Calvin Volleyball Advances in NCAA Tournament With 3-1 Win
-- Story provided by Calvin University Athletics --
GRAND RAPIDS - The Calvin volleyball team fought through a game Aurora University team to advance to the second round of the NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament with a 3-1 win by the scores of 25-20, 25-16, 22-25 and 25-22 on Thursday.
The Spartans jumped out to a 16-8 advantage in the early going of the opening set, but Aubrey Wrubel (Jenison, Mich./Jenison) served seven straight points after a side-out to get the Knights back in the set 16-16. Once the Knights got back to level, they outscored the Spartans 9-4 the rest of the way to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Calvin continued to ride that momentum into the second set as they built an early lead and then closed the Spartans out to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
Aurora would not go away quietly, however, and roared back in the third set. While Calvin looked to end the match, the Spartans held firm down the stretch to win the set 25-22 and force a fourth set.
The Spartans continued to battle in the fourth game and even held an 18-15 lead, but the Knights fought back with the help of four late kills by Heidi Westra (Clarendon Hills, Ill./Timothy Christian) and scored the last three points to secure the four-set win.
Westra was dominant all around in the match, recording a match-best 23 kills while hitting .375 on the attack, and also setting a new career-high for a four-set match with 24 digs.
Maria Bos (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) added 10 kills of her own, while Vanessa Martinez set a new career-high with eight blocks.
Alyssa DeVries finished with 50 assists. Aubrey Wrubel added 23 digs.
Calvin improved to 26-3 on the season with the win. Aurora's season ended with a 22-10 record.
COACH'S COMMENT: "I thought they (Aurora) played their guts out. We knew they were going to be good," Calvin head coach Dr. Amber Warners said. "They have some really solid players and James (Seitelman) is a really good coach. We ame out maybe a little nervous, but we settled into the match quite quickly and I thought we played really well. We played well defensively, and I thought we served really well the first couple sets."
Volleyball Knocks Off No. 9 Wittenberg in NCAA Tournament Opener
-- Story provided by Hope College Athletics --
Annie Lockett was relentless.
The Hope College outside hitter had three really good chances to get the final point of the match, and she found one that worked. Lockett's final shot was hit with so much force that it went directly off a Wittenberg player and out of bounds for the win.
"I knew I had to switch it up and not go for the same shot twice," said Lockett, a sophomore from Mason, Ohio (William Mason HS). "(I thought) if I keep switching up the shots, then something will eventually work."
Hope College (22-7) beat ninth-ranked Wittenberg College 3-0 in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament held at Calvin University. The Flying Dutch advanced to the regional quarterfinals to play 10th-ranked Washington University in St. Louis on Friday, Nov. 11, at 5:30 p.m.
WashU (30-5) outlasted seventh-seeded Millikin University (Ill.) in five sets on Friday at Calvin. The Hope-WashU winner moves on to the regional final on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 5 p.m.
"One of the things we've been talking about is playing unhesitating, relentless defense, swinging aggressively and serving and passing with (assertiveness)," Hope College coach Becky Schmidt said. "Tonight, I think all of those things came together."
Sixth-seeded Hope won in three sets: 25-20, 25-23 and 25-23.
The Flying Dutch played third-seeded Wittenberg early in the season, and the result was much different. Wittenberg won in four sets during a tournament at DeVos Fieldhouse.
Wittenberg coach Evelyn Miller said Hope was a different team on Thursday.
"They were very young at the beginning of the season. We were, too," Miller said. "But we got them early. They are much better passers and much better offensively than when we first played them. We knew that. We were prepared for that, but we just didn't have enough weapons."
Hope's biggest weapon was Lockett, who had a team-high 17 kills and two service aces.
Sophomore middle blocker Alison DeWeerd (Kentwood, Michigan | South Christian HS) had 11 kills.
Senior middle blocker Charlotte Brecht (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan | Grosse Pointe South HS) had 10.
Freshman setter Lauren Lee (Plymouth, Mich. / Ann Arbor Skyline) led the team with 43 assists.
Lee said the Flying Dutch were thankful for a chance to make it to the NCAA Tournament after falling to Albion College in the MIAA Tournament on Friday, Nov. 4, at Calvin.
"When we got back into the gym, it seemed like our team had a new fire underneath us," Lee said. "You could tell from the beginning of warmups to the end of practice, that we really wanted to be here."
Lockett said having a second chance was also a motivating factor when Hope trailed 21-20 in the final match. But they reeled off five of the next seven points to win it.
"Going into this, we were really grateful for this opportunity," Lockett said. "As soon as we saw we got a bid (into the NCAA Tournament), it's like 'OK, we've got to go now' and that was our mindset. We weren't playing timid and we weren't playing scared. We realized we were down and it was like 'now or never.' We just played our hearts out."
