HILLSDALE, Mich. - For the fourth consecutive year, the Great Midwest Volleyball Championship stays with Hillsdale as the No. 1 Chargers defeated No. 6 Tiffin in four sets on Saturday.
Tiffin forced Hillsdale to make early adjustments as they took the first set (25-22), but the next three belonged to Hillsdale (25-14, 25-15, 25-22).
The Chargers received additional hardware to end the night, as they were presented both the regular season and championship tournament trophies. Hillsdale concluded the tournament ranked third nationally.
The duo of Karoline Shelton and Allyssa Van Wienen once again powered the Charger offense with a team-best 19 and 14 kills, respectively. In only her second match back since suffering an injury to her finger, setter Lindsay Mertz operated the offense at an efficient pace to the tune of 56 assists and 13 digs.
The depth of the Chargers roster was evident throughout the match with a multitude of players appearing in the stat line.
“The contributions of Megan Kolp and Maddie Clark epitomizes the strength and depth of our team,” said Hillsdale head coach Chris Gravel. “During any given day at practice or in a match, a different player has the ability to step up in a big way for us. Earlier this year, one of our other setters, Madeline Zenas, was directing the offense when we beat Tiffin in three,” said Gravel.
The Chargers may have an extra opportunity for competition this spring with the intention to compete in the 2021 AVCA DII Women’s National Championship in April. But the Chargers have already set their sights on a national title in fall 2021 with the anticipation of the core of the team returning.
The future is also bright for Tiffin as the Dragon’s roster is young and the team was missing a crucial piece in defensive specialist Sam Fallis, who missed the seminal and championship matches with an injury.
“Tiffin is a dangerous opponent because of their heart and their setter (Loryn Huffman) has such a good sense of court awareness. They played us really tough and we give a lot of credit to them,” said Gravel.
Huffman conducted the Dragon offense with 41 assists and 12 digs. Grace Schreiber added 10 kills for Tiffin.