Sept. 26, 2009 - Only two points separated the volleyball teams from Hillsdale College and Northern Michigan University in the final three sets of their match Saturday afternoon in Marquette. Unfortunately for the Chargers, those two points didn't go their way.

The Wildcats won a pair of two-point sets, and delivered five serivce aces in the first set of their 3-1 win over Hillsdale Saturday. The Chargers' nine-game winning streak is now over, and the team is 13-2 overall and 6-1 in the GLIAC.

Despite the loss, Hillsdale remains in first place in the GLIAC South Division, holding a one-game lead over Wayne State.

NMU topped Hillsdale 25-17 in the first set, thanks in large part to five service aces. The Wildcats came into the match leading the GLIAC as a team in service aces, and it showed Hillsdale why in capturing the first set.

The last three sets couldn't have been more closely played by the two teams. NMU won the second set 25-23, then Hillsdale came back to win the third set by that exact score. The Wildcats edged the Chargers 26-24 in the fourth set to clinch the win.

There were a total of 19 tie scores during the match, but the Chargers were never able to take the lead in the deciding fourth set.

After committing just six hitting errors in the first two sets, the Chargers were burned by 15 attack errors in the last two sets. Although NMU had eight service aces in the match, the team did commit 11 service errors. Only three of those aces came after the first set, showing Hillsdale adjusted to Northern Michigan's aggressive serving well in the final three sets.

Sophomore Ashlee Crowder led the Chargers with 20 kills for the second match in a row. She now has four 20-kill matches this season including three in her last four matches played. She also hit .298 for the match on Saturday.

Crowder was the only Charger in double figures in kills. Sophomore Clara Leutheuser had nine kills and two block assists. Senior Emily Bennett had two solo blocks and three block assists, and sophomore Brogan Wells came back from injury to get six digs and three service aces.

Sophomore Apryl Schmucker had 30 assists and 10 digs for Hillsdale. Juniro Sydney Dow led the team with 19 digs.

Hillsdale will return home next weekend for a long-awaited home set of matches against Grand Valley State (Friday) and Ferris State (Saturday). This will be the first time since 2005 the Chargers have hosted those teams during the regular season.

Click on the link below for the stats from Saturday's match.

Northern Michigan 3, Chargers 1