Hillsdale and Saginaw Valley State Volleyball Seasons End in Midwest Region Semifinals

INDIANAPOLIS - The No. 3 seed Saginaw Valley State University and No. 5 seed Hillsdale College volleyball teams saw their seasons come to an end Friday night at the hands of Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) foes in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Midwest Region tournament.

Lewis (Ill.) 3, Saginaw Valley State 0 [Box Score]

Recap courtesy of the SVSU Sports Information Department

The Saginaw Valley State University volleyball team lost to Lewis University in the 2009 Midwest Regional Semifinals, 3-0. SVSU kept it close all three matches, dropping them by scores of 25-23, 25-19, and 25-21, respectively.

Sophomore Annie Buxton (Aurora, Ont.) had a double-double, recording 10 kills and 14 digs on the evening. Junior Jessica Treiber (Sebewaing, Mich./USA HS) had 11 kills while hitting at a .310 clip in the match. Senior Kait Harris (Essexville, Mich./Garber HS) had 27 assists and a team-high 19 digs for the Cardinals defensively. Senior Allison Schlinkert (Marysville, Mich.) had 14 digs as well as posting seven kills on the offensive side.

The loss ends another stellar season for the Cardinals, as they finished with a 22-10 record overall as well as claiming the program's first-ever GLIAC Championship earlier this season. This also marks the second-consecutive season SVSU has advanced into NCAA postseason play, finishing runner-up at last year's regional tournament. Lewis improves to 32-4 on the season and will face the winner of #1 regional seed University of Indianapolis and #5 Hillsdale College in tomorrow's championship match.

Indianapolis 3, Hillsdale 2 [Box Score]

Recap courtesy of the Hillsdale College Sports Information Department

The two conferences that make up the Midwest region are the GLIAC and GLVC. Friday night, the champions of those two conferences met in a classic regional semifinal match, with the winner advancing to Division II volleyball’s Sweet Sixteen. Both teams played up to, and news story image beyond, their well-deserved label of “champions” in this match.

After taking a 2-1 lead, Hillsdale saw its fantastic season ended after a comeback by the University of Indianapolis saw the match won by the host Greyhounds, 3-2. Hillsdale’s season ends with a record of 24-8. Indy, 37-1, advanced to Saturday’s regional final against Lewis University.

When these two teams met at the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover last month, Hillsdale seemed to be in position to hand Indy its second loss of the season, taking a 2-1 lead in the match. In that contest, Indianapolis rallied for a 3-2 win, just like it did in the regional semifinal contest between these two teams. It was the second time in three years the Greyhounds eliminated the Chargers from the postseason.

Hillsdale stood 10 points away from the regional final, holding a 15-14 lead in the fourth set. But the Greyhounds seized momentum and finished the set on an 11-1 run to take the set going away, 25-16. Hillsdale got out of sync offensively, and Indy took full advantage of the opportunity to tie the match 2-2. Like in the regular season matchup between these teams, the momentum the Greyhounds gained in the fourth set carried over into the fifth set.

Indy picked up its game in the second set and led from start to finish, tying the match 1-1 with a 25-18 win. But in the fourth set, Hillsdale put together a lesson in blocking. Lauren Grover, Amanda Geelhoed and Clara Leutheuser took over the match with their blocking, sparking Hillsdale to a 25-17 win in the third set. Through the match’s first three sets, Hillsdale was outblocking the Greyhounds 12-3.

The Chargers played with fire and determination in the first set, and came back from two set points to win the opener, 27-25. Hillsdale trailed 24-22, but scored five of the final six points in the set. Crowder had two kills among those final five points for the team.

Crowder led the team with 19 kills and 13 digs, and played well throughout the match. Leutheuser had her second straight excellent match at the net with 10 kills and eight block assists. Geelhoed was effective with three kills, four block assists and a .429 attack percentage.

Sophomore Apryl Schmucker had six kills, 31 assists and 11 digs, to go along with three block assists. Grover had a career-high seven total blocks, including one solo. Junior libero Sydney Dow had a team-high 25 digs, and junior Amanda Bigney added seven kills and four block assists to Hillsdale’s effort.