For the second consecutive year, Calvin advanced to the MIAA Tournament 
championship final as the Knights defeated the Scots 13-15, 15-3, 15-11, 
15-2 Friday night in an MIAA Tournament semifinal match at Hope's Dow 
Center. It also marked the second consecutive year that Calvin has 
defeated Alma in MIAA Tournament semifinals. 

Ranked fifth in the Great Lakes Region, Calvin (27-7) will meet Hope 
Saturday night at 7 pm in the MIAA Tournament final at the Hope Dow 
Center. Hope defeated Kalamazoo 15-7, 15-10, 15-13 in the other MIAA 
Tournament semifinal Friday night. 

After dropping the opening game, Calvin roared back in game two behind 
an aggressive serving attack and held firm control the rest of the 
match. The Knights finished the contest with a Calvin single-match 
record 20 service aces. Senior Rhonda Volkers of Holland Christian High 
School led the Calvin serving attack with six aces while junior Sara 
Ahrenholz (Prinsburg, MN) had five aces and freshman Tricia Balkema 
(Highland, IN) had four aces. Seniors Alicia DeGroot (Tulare, CA) and 
Ann Wiersma (Vista, CA) along with sophomores Melissa Pell (Fremont) and 
Sarah Rottman (Holland Christian) and freshman Deb Frieswyk (Holland 
Christian) added one service ace apiece. 

Wiersma also picked up a match-high 18 kills along with 10 digs while 
Volkers had 15 kills and nine digs. Pell also came up with 12 kills 
with Balkema chalking up 11 digs and DeGroot 10 digs. In addition, 
Ahrenholz collected 46 assists. 

Alma was led by Stacey Moyer who came up with 14 kills while Jaime 
Lippert had 26 assists. 

"We were a little nervous in the first game but were then able to regain 
our focus," said Calvin women's volleyball coach Mary Schutten. "We 
regained our confidence with an aggressive serving attack. It was a 
great team effort. We're looking forward to tomorrow night and we'll be 
playing to win." 

Calvin is the defending MIAA Tournament champion. A year ago, Calvin 
defeated Hope 15-6, 9-15, 15-13, 11-15, 15-10 in the MIAA Tournament 
final.