Hillsdale 3, Saginaw Valley State 1

November 12, 2011 – The Hillsdale College volleyball team will play for the GLIAC Tournament championship for the fourth time in the past five years after defeating Saginaw Valley State 3-1 Saturday afternoon at Ferris State University.

The Chargers will take on Ferris State University at 2:00 Sunday as they take one step closer to a third straight GLIAC tournament championship.

Hillsdale won sets one, three and four by scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-13. SVSU won an extremely competitive second set by a score of 25-23.

Before the match, Charger junior Caitlin Kopmeyer was honored by being named honorable mention All-GLIAC. She validated those credentials, and then some, with a career-high 19 kills to pace the Hillsdale attack. She also had eight digs and hit .432 for the match in a truly remarkable effort.

Senior Ashlee Crowder, who was named the GLIAC Player of the Year for the second year in a row, got stronger as the match progressed, matching Kopmeyer’s 19 kills in the match. Crowder also led the team with 12 digs, and didn’t have an attack error in either of the final two sets of the match.

SVSU held a big lead in team hitting percentage by the end of the second set, with a .304 mark, while Hillsdale was hitting .234. But the Chargers’ offensive power took over in the third set, and in the final two sets, Hillsdale had a combined 34 kills and just four errors. The team hit .562 in the fourth set to close out the Cardinals.

Senior Apryl Schmucker, a First-Team All-GLIAC setter, set a new career-high with 58 assists in the match. Senior Clara Leutheuser, a First-Team All-GLIAC middle hitter, delivered a career-high four service aces to go along with eight kills and four block assists. Junior Lauren Grover, a Second-Team All-GLIAC middle hitter, added eight kills to the victory.