October 25, 2007 - The last weekend in October also brings the final home weekend of the 2007 Hillsdale College volleyball season.

It won't be the last time the Chargers take the Jesse Philips Arena floor this season, but it will be the last time it will do so in the regular season. Hillsdale (20-6, 11-2) hosts Mercyhurst College at 7 p.m. Friday, followed by a noon Saturday match against Gannon University. Hillsdale will host a first-round GLIAC Tournament match at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 7.

Friday is Senior Night at Hillsdale, as the team's five seniors will be honored in a pre-match ceremony. This senior class will go down as one of the most successful in the program's history, becoming the only class to lead the Chargers to four straight 19-plus win seasons. Hillsdale has a record of 87-30 since this class arrived on campus, and has won 38 of 44 home matches in that time span.

The team is currently ranked 14th in the nation, but still has to take care of business to qualify for the NCAA Division II tournament. Right now, Hillsdale is ranked seventh in the Great Lakes Region. The top eight teams make the national tournament, however, only seven currently ranked teams will go. The West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference gets an automatic bid to the tournament for its conference champion. But no WVIAC teams are currently regionally ranked, which means the team sitting in the No. 8 position will get bumped out of the tournament by the WVIAC champion. That gives seventh-seeded Hillsdale very little room for error in the season's final two weeks.

Seven teams in the Great Lakes Region have 20 or more wins this season, making it one of the toughest and deepest regions in the nation. Only the South Central Region (containing many Florida schools) has more teams with 20 or more wins (eight).

The Chargers are a half-game behind Ashland for first place in the GLIAC South Division. That half-game will be made up this weekend, as the Eagles only place once, that coming Friday when the team hosts in-state rival Findlay. Hillsdale plays at Ashland on Saturday, Nov. 3 in a match that could decide the champion of the South Division for 2007.

Hillsdale played the two Erie-based schools just four weeks ago, and came away with wins over the Lakers (3-1) and Golden Knights (3-0). Hillsdale has dominated the series against both teams in recent years, having not lost to either team since Sept. 20, 2003.

These will also be the final meetings between the Chargers and the two Erie schools in regular season play. Next year, Mercyhurst and Gannon will join the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, exiting the GLIAC. Tiffin will join the conference in their place.

While the team's five seniors will be honored this weekend, two of them are approaching some notable career milestones. Senior Megan Howard, already the school's career leader in digs, needs 12 to become the first player in Hillsdale history with 2,000 career digs. She also has 147 career service aces, and needs three to move into second place on Hillsdale's career service aces list.

Senior Melissa Bartlett needs two kills to pass 2007 HC graduate Katherine Jones for sixth place on the Chargers' career kills list. Bartlett already occupies second place on Hillsdale's single-season kills list, having racked up 486 this season. She is fourth in the nation among all Division II players in total kills and kills per game.