-- Story provided by Hope College Athletics --
Outside hitter Addie VanderWeide has made history for the Hope College volleyball team.
The American Volleyball Coaches Association selected the junior business major as the 2023 AVCA Co-National Player of the Year along with Juniata College (Pa.) setter Olivia Foley.
VanderWeide (Grand Rapids, Michigan (Grand Rapids Christian HS) is the first from Hope to receive the AVCA's highest individual athletic honor.
On Tuesday, VanderWeide was chosen as an AVCA First Team All-American. Earlier this season, she was named the AVCA Region 7 Player of the Year and the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Volleyball Player of the Year.
VanderWeide has excelled all over the court in her first season at Hope after transferring from the University of Iowa.
The Flying Dutch have advanced to the NCAA Division II national title match for the second time in program history. Hope (32-2) will play defending national champion Juniata on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. Eastern in Claremont, California.
The Hope-Juniata match will be streamed on ncaa.com. Hope last won a national title in 2014.
A six-rotation player, VanderWeide has accumulated 529 kills so far this season which is three from matching Nora Slenk's 2006 Hope single-season record for matches played using a 25-point set.
VanderWeide ranks among the national leaders and tops the MIAA in kills per set. She also has recorded 320 digs and served 34 aces.
Head coach Becky Schmidt said VanderWeide has been has been a rock over on the left side for the Flying Dutch.
"She has been able to find ways to get kills in very difficult situations," Schmidt said earlier this week. " Then, when the situations stack up for her, she's able to put a ball down in a way that just gains momentum and finds ways to be able to stress an opponent's defense. Even when you know that said hit is 10 feet off the bat and having to tap into it, or jump backward, to be able to hit it, she can still make something out of that ball.
"She is super difficult to read as a defensive player. There are just things that she is able to do out there that I don't see coming that I would imagine the opponent's defense doesn't see coming. She just keeps teams off balance."
