We are all familiar with the energy that emits from a home crowd and resonates throughout the gym during a high stakes volleyball match. We all know of the anxiety that arises at match point when the crowd stands ready to celebrate another Charger win, and we are certainly no strangers to the cheers, the smiles, the laughs, and the excitement that takes place during a home volleyball game, but did we know that when the team was half way across the country, and we were ushered into a theatre to watch our team play, that we would have the exact same experience? Well that is precisely what happened when our Charger volleyball team traveled to California to represent Hillsdale College in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight for the first time in school history.The Charger volleyball team fought through the season and won the GLIAC tournament for the third year in a row. With that victory, the team earned the right to host the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament for the third time in the past six years. After going undefeated at regionals, beating Missouri S&T, Northern Kentucky, and University of Indianapolis, the volleyball team traveled to California to compete amongst the Elite 8. Once there the team faced fellow regional champs Wheeling Jesuit and Cal State-San Bernardino.
The Hillsdale volleyball team may have been playing on the opposite end of the country, but the fan base was stronger than ever at home. Each night the Chargers played, parents and students alike gathered in an unlikely location, the Phillips Auditorium on campus, to cheer on their team. The matches, streaming live online, were projected on a big screen in the theatre. But don't try to tell the fans it was a mere projection. They acted as if the event was live right in front of them. Fathers called out to their daughters when they were up to serve. Students celebrated after each kill, and the entire crowd stood at match point.
The intensity from the fan base was stronger than ever, the students and parents cheered out to the projection screen, making you wonder if they actually thought their player could hear them. Topping off the night, the crowd gathered together and did the "rollercoaster", leaning, cheering and celebrating in unison as one big mob. There was simply no difference between the intensity of the crowd in a live game or in these projected games.
These nights in the Phillips Auditorium were a heartwarming spectacle that demonstrated the strength of the Charger volleyball fan base.
Although they didn't bring home the national championship, it was clear to anyone that the fans were very proud of the team's performance. Losing to Cal State and coming home finishing in the top four in the country, the Charger volleyball team had an impressive season that is one for the record books, not only by their performance, but by the way they brought together a remarkable fan base who supported them the whole way through.
