2011 GLIAC Volleyball Tournament Webpage

November 8, 2011 – After a long regular season, the Hillsdale College volleyball team is preparing to make history this week.

The Chargers will seek an unprecedented third straight GLIAC Volleyball Tournament championship this week, as the conference tournament commences Thursday night. Hillsdale (24-2) enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed, and will host seventh-seeded Northwood University at 7 p.m. at Jesse Philips Arena.

Tickets are $6 for adults, $3 for seniors and students, and $2 for children ages 6-12. All Hillsdale College students will be admitted into the match free of charge, courtesy of the Student Activities Office. No other passes will be accepted, because it is a conference tournament match.

Each of the four quarterfinal matches will take place at campus sites. Those matchups are: Wayne State at Ferris State, Northern Michigan at Ashland, and Grand Valley State at Saginaw Valley State.

The semifinals and finals will be held at the campus of the highest remaining seed after completion of the four quarterfinal matches, and will be played Saturday and Sunday.

No team has ever won three straight conference tournaments, but that is the goal that lies ahead for the Chargers, the two-time defending GLIAC champions. The path to that title begins Thursday night, when the Timberwolves make their second visit to Hillsdale in the past five weeks for their first-round matchup.

Hillsdale swept Northwood 3-0 in the only regular season meeting between the teams, back on Oct. 9. The Chargers got off to a dominating start in that match, winning the first set 25-7, their most lopsided single-set win of the season. Northwood was much more competitive in the final two sets, but lost both to Hillsdale by scores of 25-19 and 25-22.

The Timberwolves finished the regular season with an overall record of 13-14, and was 11-8 in the GLIAC. Northwood hit a high note to conclude the 2011 regular season, defeating Grand Valley State 3-2 in a dramatic five-set marathon in Allendale. Northwood has some positive GLIAC tournament history of its own, having on conference championships in 1997, 1999 and 2001. This match is just the second-ever between Hillsdale and Northwood in the GLUIAC tournament, the first coming back in 2001.

Hillsdale is 7-2 vs. Northwood in nine meetings since the 2004 season.

The Chargers enjoyed another incredible season in 2011, winning their fifth GLIAC South Division title over the past six years. The team’s 24-2 regular season record is its third-best regular season mark in school history, and it motors into the postseason on a 15-match winning streak. Nineteen of the team’s 24 wins have come by 3-0 sweeps, and the Chargers have lost a grand total of four sets in the past 12 matches, dating back to Oct. 7.

Statistically, a team can’t have a much more dominant season than the one Hillsdale had in 2011. The team led the conference in five team categories: kills, hitting percentage, assists, service aces and total blocks. The GLIAC only keeps seven different team statistical categories.

Individually, several Chargers enjoyed extraordinary seasons. Senior Ashlee Crowder led the GLIAC in kills per set (3.92), and had a hitting percentage of .372, which ranked third in the GLIAC behind two of her teammates, Clara Leutheuser and Lauren Grover. Crowder was named the 2010 GLIAC Player of the Year, is a two-time All-American, and her .372 hitting percentage is historically great, given her position as an outside hitter.

Leutheuser, also a two-time All-American, led the conference in hitting percentage and total blocks for the second year in a row, and is one of the great middle hitters in recent conference history. She was named the most outstanding player of last year’s conference tournament, thanks in part to her 15 total blocks against Ferris State in last year’s tournament semifinal win.

The Chargers have seven experienced seniors, along with several talented underclassmen who have led the team to a No. 8 national ranking. Hillsdale is also ranked first in the latest regional rankings. The NCAA regional host, and postseason berths, won’t be announced until 10 p.m. Sunday. The selection show will be webcast on NCAA.com.