Volleyball team Reaches no. 25
Nathan McClallen
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: Sports
Tuesday evening the Hillsdale College volleyball team handled Lake Erie College like a high-school team. They took them in three sets by more than seven points each. The win extended their regular-season home winning streak to 25.
New Charger fan freshman Michael Morrison had a favorable reaction to the performance.
"I was really impressed by Hillsdale's dominance," he said. "They are quite good so it was really fun to watch."
Although Lake Erie was their home opener, the team already participated in the Ferris State University Invitational last weekend, where they went 3-1.
They opened play with a draining five set match against Mercyhurst College. The team won the first set 25-17 but stumbled in the second and third, 21-25 and 19-25. However, the Chargers rallied to win the last two in an assertive fashion, 25-15 and 15-4.
After the well-fought win, Hillsdale could not get by their second opponent, No. 8 ranked University of Minnesota-Duluth. They were defeated in three sets, 20-25, 15-25 and 23-25. They did, however, prove they could compete at a Top 10 level by getting within two points of the win in the third set. The Charger's play impressed someone over the weekend, because they moved up seven spots in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll.
"We lost a match and we moved up in the national rankings, from 18 to 11," head coach Chris Gravel said. "The team that we lost to, [their coach] is on the national ranking committee… so that is the only reason I can see. We'll take it, because there (has been) other years where I thought we should have been there and we weren't. We still need to earn that spot though; I don't feel like we have earned that spot yet. "
The second day of the tournament went better for the Chargers. They did not lose a set in two matches, defeating Urbana by scores of 25-10, 25-15, 25-14 and Indiana (Pa.) 25-14, 25-10, 25-18. Hillsdale also had two players named to the All-Tournament Team: senior setter Stephanie Booms and sophomore defensive specialist Sydney Dow.
New Charger fan freshman Michael Morrison had a favorable reaction to the performance.
"I was really impressed by Hillsdale's dominance," he said. "They are quite good so it was really fun to watch."
Although Lake Erie was their home opener, the team already participated in the Ferris State University Invitational last weekend, where they went 3-1.
They opened play with a draining five set match against Mercyhurst College. The team won the first set 25-17 but stumbled in the second and third, 21-25 and 19-25. However, the Chargers rallied to win the last two in an assertive fashion, 25-15 and 15-4.
After the well-fought win, Hillsdale could not get by their second opponent, No. 8 ranked University of Minnesota-Duluth. They were defeated in three sets, 20-25, 15-25 and 23-25. They did, however, prove they could compete at a Top 10 level by getting within two points of the win in the third set. The Charger's play impressed someone over the weekend, because they moved up seven spots in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll.
"We lost a match and we moved up in the national rankings, from 18 to 11," head coach Chris Gravel said. "The team that we lost to, [their coach] is on the national ranking committee… so that is the only reason I can see. We'll take it, because there (has been) other years where I thought we should have been there and we weren't. We still need to earn that spot though; I don't feel like we have earned that spot yet. "
The second day of the tournament went better for the Chargers. They did not lose a set in two matches, defeating Urbana by scores of 25-10, 25-15, 25-14 and Indiana (Pa.) 25-14, 25-10, 25-18. Hillsdale also had two players named to the All-Tournament Team: senior setter Stephanie Booms and sophomore defensive specialist Sydney Dow.
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