Cedarville Volleyball Upsets Ranked Hillsdale on Homecoming Weekend

By: Julia Swain

The Cedarville volleyball team swarmed the court as the final point of the fifth set was secured, earning them a 3-2 victory after a hard-fought match. Playing against Hillsdale College, which entered as the number 22 team in the country, Cedarville defied odds and was able to come out on top following a great team effort. 

Key contributors included Cassi Shields (18 kills), Riley Hensley (15 kills), and Haley Koch (11 kills, 6 blocks).

Another large factor in the Yellow Jackets’ win was the crowd, which loomed large as homecoming weekend brought parents and alumni to campus. From stomping feet to loud chants, the hometown fans brought fierce energy that helped drive the team to victory.

“We had a great crowd today, which is fun to see whenever you have that many people in the gym for your team rooting for your team,” said head coach Greg Smith. 

The Chargers took the first set in lopsided fashion but fell in the following two sets 25-17 and 27-25. They then took the fourth set 26-24 to tie up the match. The Yellow Jackets impressed greatly against a team that came in with an eight-match winning streak, including a seven-match streak of 3-0 victories. 

With the biggest crowd potentially since their first home match of the season back in the first weekend of September, Smith saw improvement in how his athletes handled the intense atmosphere. 

“They responded to the big crowd better than they did when we had our home tournament,” Smith said. “We handled everything way better than what we did to begin the year.”

Cedarville is back at home against Findlay on October 1st to see if they can harness the Homecoming crowd’s energy into another win.

Julia Swain is a freshman journalism student. She likes listening to Taylor Swift, watching sports, and playing sand volleyball in her free time.