For the third time in school history, the Hillsdale college volleyball team will play for a regional championship Saturday night.
The Chargers earned that distinction thanks to another dramatic win, 3-1, over Michigan Tech in Friday night's Midwest Region Semifinal, played at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. Hillsdale previously reached the Sweet Sixteen in 2011 and 2012.
Hillsdale, 28-3 on the season, will face the winner of the other semifinal match, Lewis vs. Rockhurst, at 7 p.m. CST Saturday in Lewis' home gym.
The Chargers pulled away late in a 25-19 set 1 victory, taking a quick lead in the match. The Huskies countered with impressive serving, delivering five aces in a 25-22 win, evening the match at 1 apiece.
In set 3, Hillsdale's block absolutely took over, dominating play at the net in a 25-13 victory. But just because that set had a lopsided score didn't mean the fourth set also would. Both teams played lights-out defense, and the Huskies served for set point four different times as the score flew past 24 apiece. But Hillsdale showed the resiliency and character that has carried it this far, scoring the match's final three points, the last two off devastating attacks from freshman Megan Kolp to win 30-28.
Kolp played what could very well be a crossing-the-threshhold match in what figures to be an outstanding career. She had 4 of her 11 kills in the decisive fourth set, and had the kind of reach and power the Huskies couldn't account for,
Michigan Tech clearly tried to tailor its offense to go away from Charger libero Taylor Wiese. It was a smart game plan, but other players in the back row stepped up big, led by junior Madie Schider, to frustrate the MTU attack.
Schider had 10 digs in the opening set alone, finishing with a team-high 22 for the match. She was in good position and made excellent passes against any type of attack that came her way.
Sophomore Karoline Shelton was wiry and active on both offense and defense, and contributed 21 digs to the Charger defensive effort. On offense, she was on target with a team-high 17 kills, hitting .306, with many of her attacks coming from a good distance away from the net. Shelton has established herself as one of the region's elite all-the-way around players in this regional.
Junior setter Lindsey Mertz was also on target, dealing out 52 assists while playing an aggressive style on offense with 4 kills, to go along with 8 digs.
The block is where Hillsdale had its biggest staistical edge on the Huskies, as the Chargers had a 14-3 edge in that category. Kolp had 6 block assists, but junior Allyssa Van Wienen was at the net time after time, thwarting the MTU attack with 11 total blocks, 3 solo and 8 assisted, pumping her team up with each subsequent block. Van Wienen added 12 kills to Hillsdale's offense.
Senior Dani Jones once again came through late in the match for the Chargers with 5 kills and a .357 hitting percentage, seeing court time in sets 3 and 4.
PHOTO: Steve Woltmann