With the season-opening tourney in jeopardy because of Hurricane Dorian, Hillsdale stormed the Terrace Hotel Classic in Lakeland, Fla., with three wins (and almost four) with an impressive weekend.
Two-time league player of the year and overall conference female athlete of the year Paige VanderWall is gone, but the Chargers didn’t skip a beat in system taking down No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul, host Florida Southern and Indiana (PA).
Hillsdale also took No. 17 Central Missouri to five sets in a nailbiter that would have been a perfect weekend. The Chargers were receiving votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll and now have as good as an argument as anyone to break into the Top 25.
Van Wienen, already a two-time first team all-conference middle, dominated competition in her first season action, averaging 3.41 kills, 1.12 digs and 1.00 blocks, per set.
The 6-2 middle attacked with a .349 percentage and is top five already in the conference in four major categories. She had a monster game vs. Concordia-St. Paul, a dynasty in DII with nine national champ trophies. Van Wienen delivered 21 kills, had seven blocks and hit at a .452 clip.
Against Florida Southern, she slammed down 16 kills and added eight more on just 15 swings in a sweep vs. IUP. She finished with 13 more vs. UCM to round out a terrific week.