Calvin advanced to the MIAA Tournament semifinals for the 
third straight year with a 30-18, 30-23, 30-22 first round MIAA Tournament 
victory Tuesday night at the Calvin Fieldhouse. Seeded third in the MIAA 
Tournament, Calvin (20-11) will meet second-seeded Alma (24-9) in a Friday night 
semifinal at the Hope Dow Center at 5:30 pm. Top-seeded Hope (19-13) will host 
fourth-seeded Kalamazoo (17-11) in Friday's second semifinal match. The 
Hope-Kalamazoo semifinal is set for 8:0 pm. Alma advanced to Friday's semis 
with a 30-25, 30-23, 30-24 first round victory over St. Mary's Tuesday night. 
Hope advanced with a 30-11, 30-13, 30-18 win over Olivet and Kalamazoo moved on 
with a 20-30, 30-20, 30-27, 30-25 win over Adrian. 
         
Calvin will be facing regionally-ranked Alma for the third straight year in the 
MIAA Tournament semifinals as the Knights defeated the Scots 15-7, 16-14, 15-9 
in the 1999 MIAA Tournament semifinals and 13-15, 15-3, 15-11, 15-2 in last 
year's semis. 

Friday's semifinal winners will play in the MIAA Tournament Championship final 
Saturday at Hope's Dow Center at 7:00 pm. 

With its victory over Albion Tuesday night, Calvin reached the 20-win plateau 
for the seventh consecutive season. Albion scored the first point of game one 
but would never lead again the rest of the match. The Knights gained early 
momentum, jumping out to a 19-4 lead in game one behind a strong blocking attack 
up front. Calvin also took early leads in game two and three and held control 
the rest of the way. 

"We started to refocus last weekend at the Midwest Invitational," said Calvin 
volleyball coach Jerry Bergsma. "We've struggled to maintain our intensity and 
concentration throughout a match so we decided to break down each match into 
smaller increments, turning it into a 10-point game and then a 15-point game and 
so on. We got out to such a good start because we held our focus right away." 

Calvin finished the match with 27 blocks. Despite collecting only four service 
aces on the evening, the Knights also used accurate serving to keep Albion's 
offensive attack off-balance. "When we can block and serve like we did tonight, 
we're a much better team," said Bergsma. "We'll need to continue to do the same 
thing on Friday in order to stay alive in this tournament." 

Calvin freshman Kara Kuipers of Hudsonville Unity Christian High School was a 
big factor in Calvin's victory against the Britons as she pounded 10 kills and 
collected seven blocks. Junior Melissa Pell of Fremont High School was also 
huge up front, recording seven kills and seven blocks. Junior Cassie 
Christopher (Fruitport) added seven kills and 14 digs while sophomore Trisha 
Balkema (Highland, IN) had 15 digs and two service aces. Senior setter Sara 
Ahrenholz (Prinsburg, MN) was also outstanding Tuesday with 44 assists and 15 
digs. 

Albion was led by Michelle Hind who tallied 10 kills while Katie Fuelling and 
Sarah Morin had 12 digs apiece.