Springfield, OH�Calvin dropped a pair of matches at the rugged Wittenberg 
Invitational on Saturday to finish fourth in the eight-team field. Calvin 
opened the day with a stiff 30-26, 30-22, 30-25 defeat against nationally-ranked 
Wittenberg University. Calvin was led by senior Melissa Pell (Fremont) as she 
tallied 13 kills and three kills. Sophomore Kara Kuipers (Unity Christian High 
School) also checked in with 12 kills and three blocks while sophomore Kathy 
Brenneman (North Muskegon HS) recorded eight kills and four blocks. Senior 
setter Laura Tucker dished out 26 assists and junior libero player Trisha 
Balkema (Highland, IN) had 21 digs. 

The Knights then dropped a hard-fought 28-30, 30-28, 30-17, 30-20 decision to 
regionally-ranked Carnegie Mellon. The contest was a rematch of a first round 
NCAA III Tournament match a year ago. In the NCAA III Tournament meeting 
between Calvin and Carnegie Mellon, Calvin was handed a 30-23, 30-26, 30-23 
defeat. On Saturday afternoon, Calvin picked up a narrow 30-28 win in game one 
but then lost by the same score in game two. Carnegie Mellon then picked up the 
momentum to close out the match. 

Pell led Calvin in defeat with 2 kills while Brenneman had nine kills and 
Kuipers eight kills. Tucker amassed 44 assists and picked up two service aces 
while Kuipers also had three aces and a team-high four blocks. Balkema also 
came up with 15 digs. 

Calvin will now prepare to host rival Hope Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. at the 
Calvin Fieldhouse.