September 12, 2008 - The first GLIAC match of the 2008 season figureed to be one of the toughest for the Hillsdale College volleyball team. The Chargers faced an Ashland University squad Friday night that received the same number of first-place votes (three) in the preseason coaches poll as it did. But Hillsdale left no doubt as to which team took an early share of first place in the South Division with a strong 3-1 victory at Jesse Philips Arena.

The scores of the match were 25-21, 23-25, 25-15 and 25-14.

Hillsdale, now winners of five straight and four in a row over the Eagles, are 9-2 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. Hillsdale will host Tiffin University at noon Saturday.

Hillsdale and Ashland have built a very competitive rivalry over the past few seasons. Ashland was the only team to beat the 2006 Chargers, defeating them twice within one week. However, Hillsdale has held the upper hand in the rivalry recently, winning four straight matches over Ashland, including the teams' last matchup, in the 2007 GLIAC Tournament Semifinals.

A key for Hillsdale's set wins was getting off to big leads in the first, third and fourth sets. In the first set, Ashland burned two timeouts during a set-opening 8-2 run by the Chargers. A kill by freshman Ashlee Crowder gave Hillsdale a comfortable 23-13 lead in the opening set.

But Ashland started building momentum with a 5-0 run that made the score 23-18. Three straight Charger attack errors helped close the gap in the set. But a kill by senior Stephanie Booms and an Eagle attack error helped clinch the first set for the Chargers.

The second set was about as evenly a played one as fans are going to see. There were 14 ties and seven lead changes, with neither team building a lead of bigger than two points throughout the set. The score was tied 23-23, when Ashland tallied the final two points to knot the match 1-1.

But the Chargers came back from the between-set break with some inspired play in front of a home crowd that numbered more than 400. Hillsdale raced out to a 14-3 lead in the third set, led by kills from four different players and four attack errors by the Eagles. A Hannah Barrett kill finished off the fourth set.

Set five started out in much the same way, as Hillsdale jumped out to a 15-6 lead. Junior Kittrick Smith keyed the surge with four kills during that span.

Crowder and junior Emily Bennett had two crowd-pleasing kills to close out the match for the Chargers.

Ashland hit .049 for the match, committing 31 attack errors versus 38 team kills. The Eagles hit .000 in the first and third sets.

Crowder and fellow freshman Clara Leutheuser led Hillsdale with 13 and 11 kills, respectively. Leutheuser hit .429 for the match and had nine total blocks. Smith played a very consistent match and used her hitting pwer well in recording nine kills with a .333 attack percentage.

As a team, the Chargers hit .524 in the fourth set, getting 12 kills compared to just one error. Booms led all players with 35 assists, and added four block assists and five kills to her total. Sophomore Sydney Dow played a sduperb defensive match, particulary in the third and fourth sets, and had a team-high 19 digs.

Click on the link below for the box score from Friday's match.

Box score