GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The No. 6 Calvin volleyball team hosted Kean and No. 14 Millikin on Friday at the Midwest Invitational. The Knights started the day with a 25-18, 25-17, 25-15 victory over Kean. The Knights closed the night with a rematch of the 2016 NCAA Regional championship with No. 14 Millikin. The Knights came away on top again, this time in a five-set thriller, 25-21, 23-25, 24-26, 25-16, 15-9. No. 6 Calvin improves to 17-3, with Millikin falling to 18-6 and Kean to 19-7.

Calvin opened the day on an 8-3 run on Kean. The Cougars would cut the Calvin lead to four points on multiple occasions but that is as close as they would come. The Maroon and Gold closed the set on a 5-2 run to win, 25-18.

The Knights wasted no time getting the ball rolling in the second set and jumped out to a 6-1 lead. The Cougars used a 3-0 run to cut the Calvin lead to 15-12; Junior Anna Kamp (Orland Park, Ill./Chicago Christian) ended the skid with a kill. Leading 16-14, Calvin won the next four points to push the lead back up to 20-14. Calvin won the final four points of the set to win 25-17. Senior Tessa Van Laare (Toronto, Ont./Toronto District Christian) ended the set with two kills.

Kean started the third set on a 4-0 run. The Knights responded with a 5-0 run to take back the lead. Senior Emily Blankespoor (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) tallied two service aces in the run. The Knights gained some separation at the 6-6 mark with a 5-1 run to take an 11-7 lead. A 9-2 run closed the door on the set to push the Calvin lead to 24-13. Anna Kamp ended the match at 25-15 with a kill.

Tessa Van Laare led all players with 11 kills in the first match. Senior Jenna Lodewyk (Villa Park, Ill./Timothy Christian) and Anna Kamp both finished with eight kills. Jenna Lodewyk finished the Kean match with 25 assists and seven digs. Sophomore Ally Fea (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) recorded five blocks and Emily Blankespoor led the Knights with three service aces and 10 digs.

Senior Kristen Vyletel (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) started the Millikin match with an ace. With the set tied at four, the Knights went on a 3-0 run to get some separation from Millikin. The serve of Jenna Lodewyk gave the Big Blue issues and the Knights pushed the lead to 11-5. Millikin fought back and cut the Calvin lead to three points at 22-20. Tessa Van Laare snapped the Millikin run with a kill to the corner and Emily Blankespoor dropped a service ace in the far corner to extend the lead. The Knights took the first set at 25-21. Calvin had five service aces in the first set

After trailing 4-2, Calvin reclaimed the lead with a 3-0 run. Leading 12-10, Calvin would get some separation. Calvin pushed the lead to 17-11 with a block from Anna Kamp and freshman Sydney Segard (Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville) off the head of a Big Blue player. Millikin cut the Calvin lead to 18-17; Tessa Van Laare ended the drought with a tip kill. Millikin would take the lead at 21-20 and the set 25-23.

Millikin started off the third set with a 9-5 lead. The lead quickly evaporated as Calvin tied the set at nine. The two teams tied the set 11 more times until it was 24-24. Millikin finished the set with a pair of kills to win, 26-24.

The serve of Sarah DeVries brought some much needed momentum to the Knights in the fourth set. The Maroon and Gold jumped onto an 8-2 lead and never looked back. DeVries had two service aces and a kill in the run. Millikin would clip the lead to 13-10, but Calvin would not fold and responded with a 4-1 run, capped off by a service ace from Keilahna Castillo. After a service error from the Big Blue at 25-16, the Knights were riding high on momentum heading into the fifth set.

The Knights took the lead and momentum early in the fifth set. A Sarah DeVries kill gave the Knights the lead at 2-1 and they would not give that up the rest of the evening. Leading 4-3, kills from Sydney Segard and Anna Kamp pushed the lead up to 6-3. Up 7-5, the Knights went on a 3-0 run, anchored by a service ace from Jenna Lodewyk coming out of a timeout to make the set 10-5. The Knights closed the match on a 4-1 run to take the fifth set 15-9. Calvin hit .500 in the fifth set to put away the Big Blue.

"I was proud with how we never gave up," said head coach Dr. Amber Warners. "Even though we were down 1-2, we did a great job of bouncing back from their momentum swings and we served tough and hit consistently in the fifth set."

The Knights were led on Friday night by Sarah DeVries with 16 kills and Anna Kamp with 15, Tessa Van Laare chipped in nine kills. Jenna Lodewyk had a strong performance against Millikin with 41 assists, five kills, three service aces and 10 digs. Ally Fea ran the block party for Calvin with five blocks and Keilahna Castillo led the Knights with a season-high 20 digs and four service aces.

The Maroon and Gold finished with a season-high 14 service aces and 76 digs. The Knights are now 5-1 against ranked competition.

The second match of the day at Calvin College saw No. 14 Millikin defeat Kean, 3-0.

Calvin is one of two undefeated teams at the Midwest Invitational. Ithaca defeated Hope 3-0 and Elmhurst 3-1 at Hope. Leading the Midwest Invitational is Emily Blankespoor with six service aces and Ally Fea with 10 blocks.

Calvin returns to action on Saturday when the Knights close the Midwest Invitational against Elmhurst and Ithaca.