Hillsdale 3, Wayne State 0

September 30, 2011 - The devastating talent the Hillsdale College volleyball team possesses was on full display Friday night.

The Chargers put together one of their most one-sided sweeps of the season, coming against a key South Division rival. Hillsdale beat the Wayne State University Warriors 3-0 Friday night at Jesse Philips Arena. The Chargers, now 11-2 overall and 8-1 in the GLIAC, will host the University of Findlay at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Hillsdale won the three sets by scores of 25-12, 25-14 and 25-12. Ten of Hillsdale's 11 wins this season have come in 3-0 sweeps, and Friday's match lasted a shade under an hour.

The first set was close and competitve, with the Chargers pulling away in the latter part of the set. WSU made it close, 22-19 at one point, but the Chargers closed the set out with three of the final five points.

Sets two and three were all Hillsdale. The Warriors hit .000 in the second set and .088 in the third set. The Chargers outblocked the Warriors 11-3, and Hillsdale hit .298 as a team. In the third set, Hillsdale's aggressive serving wore down the Warriors. Hillsdale had 10 service aces overall, with sophomore Caitlin Kopmeyer delivering three in a row late in the third set.

Junior middle hitter Lauren Grover, the reigning GLIAC South Division Player of the Week, was an unstoppable force in the match, with a team-high 10 kills and a .692 hitting percentage. She executed the team's "quick" sets with setter Apryl Schmucker at a very high level. Grover also had a team-best six block assists.

Senior libero Morgan Podkul keyed the team's superb defense in the match, coming up with several athletic and accurate digs. She led all players in the match with 19 digs.

Senior Ashlee Crowder had seven kills, and sophomore Bekah Draves had five kills with no errors. Schmucker played a strong all-around match for Hillsdale, finishing with 28 assists, three kills, four service aces and three block assists.