Volleyball Tops No. 3 Calvin To Win NCAA Regional Title
-- Story provided by Hope College Athletics --
The Hope College volleyball team punched its ticket to the NCAA Division III national quarterfinal with a five-set thriller over rival and No. 3-ranked Calvin University on Saturday.
The Flying Dutch completed their weekend by taking down their third Top 10 team in as many days to claim the Regional Championship title. This is Hope's third trip to the National quarterfinals and first since winning the national title in 2014.
The 20th-ranked Flying Dutch (24-7) head to Duquesne University's UPMC Cooper Field House in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the national quarterfinals on Wednesday, November 16, at a time to be announced. It is the same facility where the Hope women's basketball team claimed a third national title in March.
"We knew that tonight was going to be a dogfight, and it was," said head coach Becky Schmidt. "I'm really impressed with our team and with how assertive we were from the service line and how we didn't back down from the net."
Hope struck early, winning the first set. Set two went to the Knights in a 25-16 showdown, but the orange and blue struck back to win set three in an almost identical score of the second set, 25-17.
The first set win was highlighted by multiple digs from junior Olivia Fiebing (Traverse City, Michigan / Central) to keep Calvin at bay, along with the combination of good-timed blocks from senior Charlotte Brecht (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan / Grosse Pointe South) and key kills from senior Jenna Core (Spring Lake, Michigan / Spring Lake).
The atmosphere in Van Noord Arena intensified the match, where Hope fed off their traveling fans to take an early 7-1 lead to start set three. Hope continued on to a ten point lead over Calvin, 14-4, before the Knights dug their way out to cut Hope's lead to just four.
A string of service aces from sophomore Grace Marshall (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) advanced the Flying Dutch's lead to eight. Calvin had answers, but not enough, as Hope would feed off the momentum they had to secure the win, and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The rivals went back and forth multiple times with twelve ties in the fourth set and the lead for either team was never higher than three. The Knights would force a fifth set with an exhilarating 25-23 fourth set win on their home court.
The team of Brecht and sophomore Alison DeWeerd (Kentwood, Michigan / South Christian) executed key blocks to help Hope get out to a 5-2 lead to get their fans into a frenzy. The Flying Dutch climbed to a six point spread before Calvin strung together a rally and tied the game at 10.
A race to the 15th point, Hope battled through with the help of a service ace from freshman Lauren Lee (Plymouth, Michigan / Skyline), along with the match point kill from senior Emma Post (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville) to send them to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the Regional Champions.
The Flying Dutch were led offensively by Core with 18 kills, while Post and sophomore Annie Lockett (Mason, Ohio / William Mason) had 15 and 13 kills, respectively.
Lee, who was named the Regional Tournament MVP, tallied 49 assists in the five-set win. Marshall led Hope in both service aces, 6, and digs with 22.
Lockett and Post were also named to the Regional All-Tournament team.
Calvin Volleyball Season Ends in Five-Set Defeat in Regional Final
-- Story provided by Calvin University Athletics --
GRAND RAPIDS - The Calvin volleyball saw its season come to an end with a five-set loss to Hope College in the NCAA Tournament Regional Final by the scores of 25-22, 16-25, 25-17, 23-25 and 15-12 on Saturday at Van Noord Arena.
The Knights defeated the Flying Dutch twice during the regular season, but Hope came out strong from the start to show it was a different version of the team the Knights had seen.
The Flying Dutch built a 17-11 lead midway through the first set, and then held off a late Calvin rally to take a 1-0 overall lead.
Calvin answered in the second set, breaking open a tight game early by winning 15 of the final 21 points to tie the match 1-1. After hitting .314 in the opening set, Hope's attack efficiency dropped to .054 in the second, while Heidi Westra (Clarendon Hills, Ill./Timothy Christian) recorded seven of the Knights 11 kills in the set.
Hope came right back to start the third set, putting the Knights on their heels with a 12-2 run to open the set on the way to take a 2-1 overall lead.
Fighting for their season, the Knights scratched and clawed their way to winning a back-and-forth fourth set to force a fifth and deciding game. Westra once again came up big with six kills and six digs in the set to help tie the match 2-2.
Hope once again came out strong to open the fifth set with a 9-3 lead, but the Knights fought all the way back to tie the set 10-10. Calvin could net get all the way over the hump at the end, however, as the Flying Dutch scored three straight points to build a cushion, and then won the match on a kill by Emma Post.
Westra was spectacular on the attack throughout the match and finished with a season-high 29 kills while hitting .387. She also added 13 digs and three blocks.
Maria Bos (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian), Tori Roskamp (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) and Gabriella Kellogg (Belleville, Mich./Plymouth Christian Academy) each finished with eight kills, while Alyssa DeVries (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) added 51 assists and 12 digs. Aubrey Wrubel (Jenison, Mich./Jenison) led the Knights with 20 digs.
Following the match, Westra and Wrubel were each named to the NCAA All-Region Team.
Calvin finished the season 27-4 following the defeat. Hope improved to 24-7 with the win.
COACH'S COMMENT: "They've given a lot to this program," Calvin head coach Dr. Amber Warners said about her five seniors. "They have impacted a lot of people, and for that I'm really grateful. I think they can walk away and say they have given everything they had, which is one of the things we strive to do. I'm going to miss them on the court, but I won't miss them off the court because I'll still be engaged with them and talking to them, but they've left a legacy and I'm really proud of the legacy that they left."
