BARBERTON – The Hillsdale volleyball team spent its entire season making a statement.
When things finally ended Saturday in a Division VI regional final against Dalton, that statement had grown loud enough to leave echoes within the program for years to come.
The Falcons stretched the fifth-ranked Bulldogs to five sets in a heart-stopping match at Barberton High School. It was the first time in more than a month that Dalton had even lost a set, but the Bulldogs captured the one that mattered most.
A kill from senior outside hitter Jaedyn Yoder clinched it, 15-12, after DHS had won the first and third sets by counts of 25-15 and 25-20.
Just five seasons since finishing with a 1-22 overall record, Hillsdale (21-6) won the second and fourth sets by matching scores of 25-22 and was mere points away from its first trip to the Final Four in 50 years.
Falcons head coach Matti Willeke said her six scrappy seniors – Jillian Cowger, Kiki McFadden, Jordyn Fickes, Gracie Bishop, Clair Brightbill and Joslyn Fickes – left an indelible impact behind.
“What they have done and how they have grown in the last four years is remarkable,” the fourth-year coach said. “As freshmen, to win seven (matches after the program’s one-win season in 2022), then now to be 21-6, that’s a testament to the dedication they have to volleyball and the love they have for it.”
Dalton (26-1) escaped with its fourth Final Four berth. It is the team’s first trip to state since 2020 and it followed Elite Eight losses the past two seasons to Independence.
The Bulldogs will face Garaway on Thursday at Wittenberg University. The No. 11-ranked Pirates (23-4) knocked off No. 8 Lucasville Valley (23-2) on Saturday and are making their first visit to state.
“These girls have played volleyball a long time, they’ve played together a long time,” Dalton coach Allison Clear said. “This has been a goal of theirs for a long time, so they knew what they needed to do to get it.”
Split sets to start
The Bulldogs largely ran away with the opening set Saturday. They built a 20-12 advantage before the Falcons could string together three straight points to make it 20-15 – two of those coming on kills from Jordyn Fickes (11 kills in the match).
That was as close as it got down the stretch, as Dalton’s Payton Lehman put away three consecutive kills to finish it out.
It was the 27th consecutive set the Bulldogs had won, dating back to their 3-2 win over Hillsdale on Oct. 6, but the Falcons quickly answered.
Set 2 was tied on 14 different occasions, and Dalton pushed ahead 15-12 when senior outside hitter Sara Geibel bookended a pair of kills around two aces from sophomore Cali Steiner.
Hillsdale clawed back, though, scoring the final four points, a surge that included back-to-back blocks from Cowger (25 kills) and a set-sealing ace from Bishop (33 digs).
A raucous HHS crowd, that included a large student contingent decked out in all black, erupted with the win.
Dalton steals Set 3
The Falcons then put themselves in prime position to take a stranglehold on the match, starting out Set 3 on a 9-0 run.
McFadden (14 kills, 22 digs) opened it with a kill, then toed the service line for the next eight points. But the Bulldogs – showing the tenacity that has led them to the last three straight Wayne County Athletic League titles – methodically chipped away.
A tip-kill from senior hitter Mei Simmons tied things at 13-13, finishing off the longest volley of the match to that point.
And while Hillsdale pushed back ahead by as much as 17-14 behind some impressive digs from Bishop, Dalton scored seven of the final nine points to go up, 2-1.
Willeke said the pressure when leading a team like Dalton can build quickly once the Bulldogs pull closer.
“I feel like (taking a lead against them), you’re just elated, then the closer they get it wobbles us a little bit more than other teams,” she said, “just because the creep is feeling a little bit more pressure.
“That gap is harder to hold because they’re so consistent.”
Clear said her veteran squad, which also features six seniors, didn’t get rattled when it was down 9-0.
“They needed to make a choice,” she said. “We’re fighting to go to the state championships, I don’t feel like we needed much more motivation than that. And they really stepped up.”
Falcons battle late
Willeke said her Falcons needed to have a “goldfish mentality” and move on quickly in the fourth set, and they did just that.
The 5-foot-11 Cowger showed the talent that has her heading to play at NCAA Division III Marietta University, hammering home nine kills in the set. Three of them came after Dalton pulled within 22-21, including a powerful clincher.
McFadden also had four kills and an ace in that set. She finished second only to Cowger in career kills at Hillsdale (unofficially 990 and 973, respectively).
“(McFadden and Cowger) are fantastic players and I’m sure they’re going to miss them,” Clear said.
Forced to play a fifth set for just the third time all season, Dalton showed no signs of concern. While there was no lead wider than three points in the final set, the Bulldogs trailed in it just once at 4-3.
By the time Yoder blasted home the winning kill, the match had surpassed two hours.
“In Game 5, they switched their rotation up and I think it threw us off just a smidge when (Geibel) was in the back row,” Willeke said. “(Simmons) blocked (Cowger) just a little bit more or at least got a couple more touches on Jill.”
Steiner finished with 52 assists for Dalton, which nearly had four players with double-digit kills in Geibel (22), Yoder (16), Simmons (10) and Lehman (9).
The 5-foot-6 Geibel will finish her career with more than 1,500 kills as a four-year starter and will play at NCAA Division II Walsh University.
She has been the linchpin of a senior group that now is 75-6 over the past three seasons – including a 41-1 record in WCAL play.
“We talked about us being in this game before and Hillsdale had not, so using that to our advantage,” Clear said. “A lot of the girls that are on this team played in this game last year, and while you have nerves, you also know what the game is gonna be. (Hillsdale) hadn’t had that.”
The WCAL has never had a state champion in volleyball, but the Bulldogs now own four of the league’s six Final Four appearances (also 2020, 2016 and 2010). Smithville (2009) and Hillsdale (1976) have the only others.
Big shoes to fill
Clear, herself a 2006 Dalton graduate, said the Falcons have come a long way from being a WCAL pushover, crediting Willeke and the coaching staff for the massive turnaround.
“Hillsdale is a fantastic team,” Clear said. “If you would have told me five years ago that we would be playing Hillsdale in the regional finals, I never would have believed you.”
During their tournament run, the Falcons saw McFadden collect her 1,000th dig and Smith pick up her 1,000th assist in just her sophomore season.
Smith tied her single-match program record for assists with 51 on Saturday, adding 19 digs in the effort.
Overall, it was a Hillsdale squad that piled up program records and left a blueprint for success moving forward, even if it will lose the best senior class in its history.
“That’s going to be a huge bridge to cover, because they all play and they’re solid players,” Willeke said. “But the girls that are underneath them have been practicing against them, playing against them, so they know the standard and the competitive level that they have held.
“We’re counting on that to keep moving us forward. We held this high standard of competitiveness that the seniors leave a little bit of a legacy there.”
Photos by Doug and Christy Haidet
