HILLSDALE, Mich. – A dynasty has been brewing at Hillsdale as the Chargers made it three straight titles in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship tournament on Saturday evening.
No one has been able to dethrone the Chargers and head coach Chris Gravel from the top, including the regular season or the conference tournament.
Tiffin put in a valiant bid to try to end Hillsdale’s run as the No. 2 seed, but fell just short as the Chargers prevailed in four sets, 3-1 (26-28, 25-19, 25-13, 25-20).
Usually going into the conference tournament, a team might not be sure of its postseason fate in the NCAA Championship bracket with the regional rankings in flux. But Hillsdale’s position has been solid at No. 2 for three straight weeks and certainly appears it will remain that way for Monday night’s Selection Show by the national committee.
It turned out to be another great crowd as fans from both sides filled the seats at Potter Arena. In recent history, it has also been hard enough to win a set against the Chargers, but the Dragons were able to do so in the first game as each side exchanged blows.
Tiffin’s first time as a Great Midwest Championship finalist in volleyball under head coach Shauna Hurles was a great run for the Dragons’ program. Tiffin beat Findlay in the quarterfinals and brought down No. 3 Walsh in the Friday semifinal contest.
Hillsdale completed another undefeated run in the conference schedule during the regular season and moved through the playoff bracket by beating No. 8 Malone and No. 4 Kentucky Wesleyan.
The stars came to play in this one as heavy hitters Allyssa Van Wienen (Hillsdale) and Jenna Huffman (Tiffin) went head to head with some great numbers as expected. Huffman produced 20 kills and 13 digs while Van Wienen recorded 19 kills on a .471 hitting percentage.
Hillsdale received a big boost from senior outside Dani Jones, who came through with 10 kills and three blocks as a notable contributor along the front line. Karoline Shelton had her name called often throughout the night, getting 51 attack attempts that resulted in 18 kills.
Senior libero Taylor Wiese, fresh off becoming the program’s all-time leader in digs, finished with 34, the highest total in a single match this season in the league. Wiese and Tiffin’s Sam Fallis each had 33 earlier in the regular season; Fallis concluded her strong postseason run with 29 digs.
Tiffin finished the 2019 regular season with a record of 19-13. Hillsdale has won 11 straight with a 26-3 record and will await tournament seeding during Monday night’s selection show at 7:30 p.m. ET. Most likely, the Midwest Regional will be conducted at Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill.