Hillsdale’s Mertz, Van Wienen Voted to CoSIDA Academic All-District Team

11.30.21

Official CoSIDA Release


INDIANAPOLIS – A pair of accomplished Hillsdale volleyball student-athletes earned a spot on the College of Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Team for the 2021 regular season.
 
Representing the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in the Midwest Region of District 4 in Division II was middle blocker Allyssa Van Wienen and setter Lindsey Mertz.
 
Mertz is a senior with a 3.75 cumulative GPA in Economics while Van Wienen’s career path is Exercise Science with a 3.54 GPA for the Chargers.
 
Both have been instrumental in the program’s dominance since joining the Great Midwest together in the 2017 season as freshmen. Together, they helped bring home the fifth consecutive conference tournament title and are preparing to compete in the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional as the No. 3 seed.
 
The Chargers also earned the conference regular season title for the North Division with an undefeated record and have been nationally ranked all season in the AVCA Poll for Division II.
 
Mertz and Van Wienen were first team all-conference selections by the coaches and are potential NCAA All-Americans with worthy numbers posted through the regular season this fall. HC led the conference in both team hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage.
 
Going into the weekend matchup in the national tournament against Grand Valley State, Van Wienen has racked up 301 kills and also ranks fifth in the conference in points per set. She also maintained her status as league leader in blocks (1.07 per set) while her hitting percentage is also top five at a .344 clip.
 
Mertz has logged over 1,000 assists this season in 91 sets played while averaging a league best 11.46 per set, a mark that is also top 10 nationally among all players in Division II. She is critical to the success of the Chargers’ offense being able to operate with a .251 team hitting percentage and HC also led the league in assists (13.16 per set).
 
Mertz and Van Wienen are now eligible in the next step of voting for CoSIDA Academic All-American honors.