-- Story provided by Hope College Athletics --
With the match pointing in the wrong direction, the second-ranked Hope College volleyball team regrouped heading into the decisive fifth set and reversed course.
With the season on the line, the Flying Dutch found a way to play another day.
Hope is headed back to a second consecutive NCAA Division III regional final after steering clear of an upset on Friday and downing the No. 23-ranked Pointers of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 25-22, 25-15, 16-25, 19-25, 15-10.
A DeVos Fieldhouse crowd of 1,041 saw the Flying Dutch advance to face No. 17 Transylvania University (Ky.) on Saturday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. for a spot in the national quarterfinals. It took everything Hope could muster.
"Credit to Stevens Point. I thought they played incredibly aggressive volleyball and towards the end of that match made some savvy defensive moves," head coach Becky Schmidt said after her team improved to 29-2 overall. "They found some vulnerable spots in our defense that gave us a challenge. In the end, I thought our serving put the pressure on them [and] made their offense a little more predictable.
"I thought we played some assertive defense ourselves in that fifth set and that first and second set. I was proud of the way our team came out tonight, played aggressive and with confidence, and got after it."
Stevens Point, which rallied from down 2-0 in Thursday's first round to beat Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) in five sets, displayed a similar resiliency on Friday.
The Pointers (23-11) forced Hope to play mostly from behind during the third and fourth sets and evened the match.
The Flying Dutch took a different path during the final set. Hope jumped to a 2-0 lead after a kill from junior outside hitter and AVCA Region 7 MVP Addie VanderWeide (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Grand Rapids Christian) and a Stevens Point attack error.
A four-point run with junior Grace Marshall (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) serving extended the Flying Dutch's lead to a commanding 11-4. A kill from freshman middle blocker Kamryn Burbridge (Grand Haven, Michigan / Grand Haven) closed the match. The Flying Dutch improved to 4-0 in five-set matches this season.
Stevens Point gave Hope everything it expected, VanderWeide said.
"We knew they were going to come out strong. No one cares about rankings in this tournament. Everyone just wants to stay in it," the MIAA's MVP said. "The way we captured it back was really coming together, like Coach [Schmidt] said, was playing with heart. There wasn't much technical we could do in the fifth set after playing four sets. It was coming out and playing with the heart we know we have."
VanderWeide and Burbridge drove Hope's attack.
Burbridge topped the Flying Dutch with a career-best 20 kills and a .486 hitting percentage. VanderWide collected 19 kills and a team-best 19 digs.
Sophomore all-region setter Lauren Lee orchestrated Hope's offense with 55 assists.
The Flying Dutch withstood Ashley Kopp's 27 kills and Lauren Shaw's 17 to earn the opportunity to play for back-to-back regional titles. The Hope-Transylvania winner moves on to the national quarterfinals on Wednesday, Nov. 29, in Claremont, California, near Los Angeles.
Transylvania (27-6) claimed its second consecutive regional final appearance earlier in the afternoon by topping Pacific Lutheran University (Wash.), 28-26, 25-17, 17-25, 25-19. Cate Scheper's career-high 23 kills led the Pioneers.
