Crowder and Leutheuser dominate at Ashland to finish off perfect weekend

Story from Hillsdale College

First place in the GLIAC South Division belongs to Hillsdale College's volleyball team after the first weekend of conference competition.

The Chargers improved to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the GLIAC after a 3-0 victory over Ashland University in Ohio Saturday afternoon. The team will play its 2009 home opener Tuesday night vs. the University of Findlay starting at 7 p.m.

Hillsdale has now beaten Ashland eight times in a row, and hasn't lost a match in the state of Ohio since Oct. 22, 2005. Six of Hillsdale's nine wins this season have come by 3-0 scores.

Saturday, Hillsdale got off to another good start, winning the first two sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-13.

The third set appeared it would go the way of the first two, when the Chargers jumped out to a 6-1 lead. But the Eagles came back to tie the set 9-9. Neither team led by more than two points the rest of the way. Sophomore Ashlee Crowder scored the last three points of the match for the Chargers, all on kills, wrapping up the win with a 25-23 triumph in the third set.

Crowder led Hillsdale in kills for the second straight match, getting 14. Sophomore Clara Leutheuser pitched a "perfect game," getting nine kills with zero errors. She had a .529 hitting percentage for the match, along with four digs and three total blocks.

Hillsdale's serving was much improved in this match, as the team had six service aces versus just two service errors. The team hit .284 for the match and committed just 12 attack errors in the entire match.

Junior Amanda Bigney delivered seven kills for the Chargers. Junior Sydney Dow had a team-high 19 digs, while sophomore setter Apryl Schmucker had 31 assists and five kills. Sophomore Brogan Wells tied her career-high with 10 digs, and contributed two service aces.

Click on the link below for the stats from Saturday's match.

Chargers 3, Ashland 0