November 12, 2008 – The 2008 Hillsdale College volleyball season came to an end Wednesday night, as the Chargers fell to Wayne State University, 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the GLIAC Tournament.

Hillsdale’s season comes to an end with a 19-11 overall record. The Chargers have won at least 19 matches in each of the past five seasons. The loss in the conference tournament quarterfinals was the first in that round for Hillsdale since 2003. This is also the first season since 2003 the Chargers will not participate in the NCAA Tournament.

The Warriors won the first two sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-16. Hillsdale came back with a much stronger overall effort in the third set, winning 25-20. But Wayne State upped its level of play through the fourth and decisive set, defeating Hillsdale 25-16.

Service errors and Wayne State’s blocking were huge factors in the match. The Warriors came into the match as one of the best blocking teams in Division II, and lived up to that reputation. Wayne State outblocked Hillsdale 9-5 in the match, but that was just one of the advantages the Warriors had over the Chargers in the match.

Wayne State had a 27-15 point advantage over Hillsdale when combining points scored off blocks, service errors and reception errors.

Hillsdale took a 9-7 lead in the fourth set, but a 4-0 run by Wayne State gave it an 11-9 lead, one it would never lose the rest of the way. Wayne State would outscore Hillsdale 10-3 in the match’s final 13 points.

In Hillsdale’s third-set win, the Chargers hit .292 and committed just two attack errors. Hillsdale held Wayne State to a .028 attack percentage in that set, despite the Warriors getting 12 more attack attempts in that set. Hillsdale ran out of subs with a 20-17 lead in the set, but still outscored the Warriors 5-3 to end the set.

The Warriors clinched the set two win with back-to-back service aces. The Chargers didn’t lead at any point of the second set.

Wayne State set an early tone for the match by playing outstanding team defense, especially in the first set. The Warriors made several diving digs off tough attacks by the Chargers, often turning those desperation defensive plays into points later in those volleys.

The Warriors committed fewer errors in the match, and seemed to take full advantage of every mistake made by the Chargers. Hillsdale had seven attack errors in the first set, and committed three more within the first 10 points of the second set, when it fell behind 7-3.

Playing her last match of a brilliant career, senior setter Stephanie Booms finished with four kills, 31 assists and five digs. She finishes her career as the Chargers’ career leader in assists.

Sophomore Amanda Bigney was inserted into the match starting with the second set and performed well from her outside hitter position. She had eight kills and hit .267 for the match. Freshman Ashlee Crowder led Hillsdale with 12 kills in the match.

Freshman setter Apryl Schmukcer, a key part of a very bright future for the Chargers, had four kills, no errors, five assists and nine digs. Freshman Clara Leutheuser had six kills and one solo block for Hillsdale.

Click on the link below for the match statistics.

Box score