Story by Jeff Febus/Photos by Johanna Heidorn

KENOSHA, WISC - The top-ranked Calvin women's volleyball team moved on to the second round of NCAA III Tournament play with a 25-23, 25-22, 25-13 victory over the Titans of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Thursday afternoon on the campus of Carthage College.

The Knights (28-3) advance to face 16th-ranked Elmhurst (31-8) in a second round regional match at 5:30 p.m. (EST) Friday.

In its win over UW-Oshkosh Calvin grabbed a 21-16 win in set one but the Titans were able to close to within a point at 24-23. Calvin responded with a timeout and Oshkosh responded with a service error that closed out the set one win for the Knights.

Facing a tall Oshkosh front row, Calvin's offense struggled to find openings in set two as the Knights trailed 14-11 and later 20-18. Calvin then responded with a defensive stand as seniors Emily Crowe (Granger, IN/Mishawaka Penn HS) and Stacey Kamp (Orland Park, IL/Chicago Christian HS) responded with a double block and senior Ellie Diepersloot (Madera, CA/Chowchilla HS) and freshman Jenna Lodewyk (Villa Park, IL/Timothy Christian HS) came up with back-to-back kills to give Calvin a 21-20 lead.

Oshkosh called timeout but Calvin kept up the momentum with kills by Crowe and Diepersloot. The Titans rallied with back-to-back kills by Katelyn Malcheski to creep within one at 23-22 but the Knights stood tall as Diepersloot smacked a kill and freshman Emily Blankespoor (Grand Rapids/South Christian HS) ripped off a service ace to finish the set two win.

Set three was all Calvin as the Knights hit .433 as a team. The Knights held a 10-9 lead but then ripped off a 10-2 run to put the set and the match out of reach.

"I thought our serve receive tonight was consistent the entire match but our defense picked up in set three and that helped fuel our offense," said Calvin head coach Amber Warners. "I was very happy with our serving. I thought we served aggressively and didn't get down on ourselves. We stayed positive which is important to do at this time of the year."

Calvin was led in the win by junior Maggie Kamp (Orland Park, IL/Chicago Christian HS) who tallied 14 kills and 14 digs. Sophomore Laura Danhoff (Willard, OH/Willard HS) had nine kills. Crowe had six kills and three block assists while Stacey Kamp also had three block assists.

Senior Elise Biesboer (Elmhurst, IL/Timothy Christian HS) tallied 11 digs while Blankespoor had eight digs and a pair of service aces. Lodewyk set the table from her setter's spot with 36 assists to go with four kills and a pair of service aces.

"I thought Jenna got more crafty in the third set," said Warners. "She really made our offense go late in the match. This was a good team win. We will need to keep our focus tomorrow against a very talented Elmhurst team."

Calvin is now 40-23 all-time in NCAA III Tournament play including 17-7 in first round matches.