A gutty gritty effort was not enough to lift Calvin to victory in 
Saturday night's MIAA Tournament championship final as the Knights fell 
to rival Hope 15-9, 17-15, 14-16, 16-14 at Hope's Dow Center. With the 
victory, Hope advances (30-7) to the NCAA III Tournament while Calvin 
closes out its season at 27-8. Calvin held a lead in all four games but 
struggled to close out each game. Calvin took a 4-1 lead in game one 
only to lose all-conference setter Sara Ahrenholz (Prinsburg, MN) for 
the rest of the evening at that point with a sprained ankle. Freshman 
setter Deb Frieswyk (Holland Christian) replaced Ahrenholz in the lineup 
and came up with an admirable performance in the first varsity action of 
her collegiate career. 

After dropping game one 15-9, Calvin moved out to an 11-5 lead in game 
two. Calvin then led 13-10 and had chances to win at 14-13 and 15-14 
but could not close as the Flying Dutch used a 3-0 run to win 17-15 and 
take a 2-0 lead in games. The Knights fought off elimination, wining 
game three in hard-fought fashion. Calvin moved out to a 12-7 lead only 
to see Hope tie the score at 12-12. Calvin scored the next two points 
to go up 14-12 but again could not close out the match. With the score 
tied 14-13, Calvin had five service opportunities to close but could not 
finish off the Flying Dutch as Hope tied the score at 14-14. Calvin 
then dug down and came up with the final two points to win 16-14. 

In game four, Calvin appeared ready to stretch Hope to a five-game match 
as the Knights led 14-10 behind three consecutive service aces by 
sophomore Jessica Huisjen (Lansing) off the bench. Again Calvin could 
not close out the game as the Flying Dutch scored six unanswered points 
to take the game, match and tournament. 

Seniors Ann Wiersma (Vista, CA), Rhonda Volkers (Holland Christian) and 
Alicia DeGroot (Tulare, CA) were all superb in defeat with Wiersma 
coming up with a match-high 26 kills along with eight digs. Wiersma 
finished the evening with a sizzling .373 attack percentage. Volkers 
was also huge as she came up with 19 kills, 13 digs, three blocks and 
one service ace while DeGroot tallied 14 digs and two service aces. In 
addition, sophomore Melissa Pell (Fremont) recorded 10 kills and three 
blocks while sophomore Cassie Christopher (Fruitport) had seven kills 
and freshman Tricia Balkema (Highland, IN) had eight kills and nine 
digs. 

Frieswyk was perhaps the biggest unsung hero of the evening for Calvin 
however as she shook off early-match nerves to collect 48 assists, 14 
digs, four kills and a clutch ace in game four that helped the Knights 
build their 14-10 lead. 

Hope was led by Laura Hahnfeld and Martha Luidens as Hahnfeld came up 
with 23 kills and Luidens 22 kills. Senior setter Kim Grotenhuis also 
chalked up 56 assists with freshman Laura Geurink recording four service 
aces.