October 24, 2008 - Junior Emily Bennett had herself a career match in leading the Hillsdale College volleyball team to a win over one of its most fierce South Division rivals Friday night.

Bennett had a career-high 17 kills as Hillsdale defeated Ashland University 3-1 Friday night at Ashland's Kates Gymnasium. The Chargers, winners of four in a row and five straight over the Eagles, are now 17-8 overall and 6-6 in the GLIAC.

Hillsdale is now tied with Northwood for first place in the GLIAC South Division with 6-6 conference marks. Northwood defeated Wayne State 3-0 Friday night to forge a tie with the Chargers in the standings. Hillsdale travels to Tiffin for a 4 p.m. match against the Dragons Saturday.

Bennett's previous career-high for kills in a match was 12, which she set several times. But Friday night, she was dialed in, recording 17 kills with just three errors for a .538 hitting percentage. Bennett and teammate Clara Leutheuser were ranked second and first, respectively, in the GLIAC in hitting percentage for the season.

Hillsdale won the first two sets of the match by scores of 26-24 and 25-15. The Eagles came back to win the third set 25-22, and the Chargers closed out Ashland with a 25-21 victory in the fourth set.

Leutheuser was very effective at the net, recording a career-high 5.5 total blocks, including three solo blocks. She entered play this weekend ranked 10th in the nation in total blocks.

Hillsdale's offense was nicely balanced, including the 17 kills from Bennett. Sophomore Amanda Bigney had 12 kills, and freshman Ashlee Crowder added 10 kills. Junior Kitt Smith had eight kills with just two errors.

Three players had double-digits in digs, with freshmen Morgan Podkul (20) and Apryl Schmucker (10) each achieving career-highs in that category. Sophomore Sydney Dow led the team with 24 digs.

Senior Stephanie Booms added to her school record for career assists with 47 more against the Eagles.

As a team, Hillsdale held Ashland to a team hitting percentage of less than .100 in the second and fourth sets. The Chargers outblocked the Eagles 12-5 in the match, and had 12 more kills with four fewer errors in the match.

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

Box score