September 26, 2008 - Using three straight late-set rallies from a deficit, the Hillsdale College volleyball team staged a big 3-0 win over the Northern Michigan University Wildcats Friday night at the Jesse Philips Arena.

The win stops the Chargers' two-game losing streak, and improves them to 12-4 overall and 4-2 in the GLIAC. Hillsdale is back home at 6 p.m. Saturday vs. Michigan Tech University.

The Chargers trailed late in all trhee sets, but stepped up when the pressure was highest, and delivered a number of championship-level plays against a Wildcat team that appeared shell-shocked that it lost.

In the first set, Hillsdale trailed 21-17 before staging the first of its three comebacks. Ashlee Crowder had back-to-back kills, followed by a kill from senior Stephanie Booms, to make it a 22-21 game. NMU pulled out in front, 24-22, needing just a single point to win the first set. But the Chargers scored the final four straight points of the set for the come-from-behind win in the first set.

Booms and juniors Emily Bennett and Hannah Barrett had kills on three straight possessions, and an attack error by the Wildcats clinched the 1-0 lead for Hillsdale.

The Chargers used the positive momentum from the win int he first set into the beginning of the second set. Hillsdale gained an early 9-3 lead on NMU, thanks to some excellent passing and precision setting by Booms. The Wildcats committed a serving error and three hitting errors in the early-set run by Hillsdale.

But NMU, a team loaded with talent, didn't stay down for long. The Wildcats went on a 12-4 run that turned the six-point deficit into a 15-13 lead. The Chargers responded with a 7-1 run to go up 20-16 and eventually pulled away for the 25-21 victory.

The third swet mirrored the first, with Northern Michigan attacking aggressively. The set was tied 10-10, but NMU went on a 7-2 run to take a 17-12 lead. The Wildcat lead in the third set grew to as high as seven points, and the team held a 23-18 lead and seemed poised to force a fourth set. But Sydney Dow got the bakll for the serve and never gave it up.

Dow served the team to an incredible match-ending 7-0 run. An emphatic kill by junior Kittrick Smith seemed to rattle Northern Michigan, as the Wildcats committed three straight attack errors to make the score 23-22. Crowder's crushing kill tied the match, and blocks by Booms and Clara Leutheuser closed out a big comeback by the Chargers.

Bennett played with quickness and agressiveness all night long, and had a superb match. She had nine kills, and served the final three points of the first set when Hillsdale ran out of rotations.

Crowder overpowered the Wildcat defense with both her hitting and serving. She led all players with 11 kills and hit .414 for the match. She also delivered four service aces, and anumber of other serves knocked NMU out of its preferred defense.

Barrett didn't commit an error and had five kills for Hillsdale, while Leutheuser had six kills and six block assists. Dow had 17 digs, while Booms racked up 30 assists.

To view the match statistics, click on the link below.

Match statistics