Box score

September 26, 2010 - Playing opponents as good as Ferris State, Grand Valley State and Saginaw Valley State over a three-day span is daunting for any volleyball team. But Hillsdale College's team passed this stiff test with flying colors.

Hillsdale (ranked 16th in the nation) finished off a very successful weekend in victorious fashion, with a 3-1 win over a tough Cardinals team before more than 500 fans inside Jesse Philips Arena. The Chargers improve to 11-1 overall with the win, and sit atop the GLIAC standings with an 8-0 conference mark.

After losing the first set to SVSU 25-19, the Chargers stormed back to post wins of 25-19, 25-11 and 25-18. Saginaw Valley State opened the match with more energy and superb execution, hitting .429 in the first set to go up 1-0. But Hillsdale bounced back in a big way, improving every aspect of its game to roll through last season's GLIAC runner-ups.

The Chargers sprinted out to an 8-3 lead in the first set, going on to win by scoring five of the final eight points of the set.

The Chargers' group of blockers dominated the third set, as the team accumulated five total blocks, just in that set. Lauren Grover and Amanda Geelhoed combined on three blocks, including on back-to-back plays during Hillsdale's 12-4 set-opening run.

The Cardinals came back to score seven straight points en route to an 11-7 lead in the fourth set. But once again, it didn't take long for Hillsdale to change the momentum, going on a 10-4 run to pull ahead 17-15. Hillsdale particularly took advantage of overpasses by the Cardinals, scoring four points on such plays in the deciding fourth set.

Three players had double-digit kills for Hillsdale, led by 14 apiece from 2009 All-Americans Ashlee Crowder and Clara Leutheuser. Crowder hit .294 and had seven digs, while Leutheuser had three solo blocks in a dominant performance at the net.

Senior Amanda Bigney turned in another outstanding performance, with 10 kills to go along with a .471 attack percentage. She was able to attack the defense from many different angles and positions on the floor, and was extremely accurate with her swings.

Defensively, four different players came up with seven or more digs, led by Sydney Dow's 14. Defensive specialists Borgan Wells and Morgan Podkul combined for 15 digsd, along with a number of great passes against powerful attacks from the Cardinals. Junior Apryl Schmucker played an aggressive match, with seven kills, 37 assists and three digs.