September 1, 2007 - After suffering its first five-game loss in nearly two years, the Hillsdale College volleyball bounced back to post a pair of impressive wins Saturday afternoon.

Highlighting the team's play in the final day of the Towne Suites Place Classic in Findlay, Ohio, was a huge preseason win, 3-0 over defending national runner-up and No. 9-ranked North Alabama. The Chargers are now 7-2 on the season and will head to Ashland University next weekend for the final of its three tournaments before GLIAC play begins.

Senior Melissa Bartlett was named to the All-Tournament Team, while senior Megan Howard earned Most Outstanding Libero honors at the tournament in Findlay.

The Chargers' win over UNA was its second in the past four years, the first coming in 2004 when North Alabama was the defending Division II national champions. The latest meeting between the teams wasn't as close as one would think a matchup of the Nos. 9 and 10 teams in the nation would be.

Hillsdale beat UNA 30-25, 30-21 and 30-26 in the final of its four matches over the weekend. Bartlett and sophomore Kittrick Smith combined for 31 of the team's 55 kills, proving to be an unstoppable outside hitter combination.

The Chargers hit .355 for the match, while holding UNA to a team attack percentage of .220.

Hillsdale's team defense turned in one of its best and most balanced efforts of the season. Three players had double-digits in digs, led by Bartlett's 14. Megan Howard added 12 digs, while Sydney Dow had 11.

Freshman Rachel VanderWall had a career-high eight kills, with junior Stephanie Booms dishing out 45 assists. Sophomore Emily Bennett had six kills and two solo blocks.

Hillsdale had little trouble disposing of Bellarmine, winning all three games by scores of 30-14, 30-20 and 30-25. In that match, Smith led the team with 14 kills, while Bartlett had 12.

Friday night, Hillsdale lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to No. 7-ranked Truman State (Mo.) It was the first five-game loss suffered by the Chargers since Oct. 21, 2005.

The Chargers defeated future GLIAC foe Tiffin University 3-0 earlier Friday. The scores of the games were 30-28, 30-22 and 30-20.

The Chargers again controlled the offensive and defensive flow of the match vs. the Dragons. After Tiffin hit .412 as a team in the first game, Hillsdale held it to team hitting percentages of .088 and -.031 in the final two games, games the Chargers won by eight and 10 points.

Bartlett led the Chargers with 14 kills and a .526 hitting percentage. Senior Devon Blain had an efficient offensive game, getting four kills and an .800 attack percentage. Freshman Amanda Bigney had seven kills, while Smith added 10 kills.

Booms dished out 43 assists, and senior Howard had a team-best 15 digs.

The match against Truman State featured some superlative performances from Charger players. Senior Megan Howard led the team with 33 digs, two short of her career-high. Bartlett recorded 29 kills, the most she's had in a match while wearing a Hillsdale uniform. Bartlett also had 18 digs.

Junior setter Stephanie Booms came close to a triple-double, getting seven kills, 56 assists and 12 digs. Freshman Sydney Dow had a career-high 25 digs, and sophomore Emily Bennett had a career-high 10 kills. Sophomore Kittrick Smith added 15 kills to the Hillsdale offense.

The Chargers lost the first game 31-29 before coming back to win the second, 30-22. Truman won game three 30-22, while Hillsdale took the fourth game, 30-26. Truman pulled out a 15-9 game-five win to close out the match. Truman hit .583 as a team in the fifth game, compared to .111 for the Chargers.

Click on the links below for box scores from the tournament.

Hillsdale 3, Tiffin 0

Truman 3, Hillsdale 2

Hillsdale 3, Bellarmine 0

Hillsdale 3, North Alabama 0