Calvin advanced to the MIAA Tournament Championship final for the 
third straight year with a 30-21, 30-25, 30-21 semifinal victory over MIAA 
co-champion Alma Friday evening at the Hope Dow Center. Calvin (21-11) will 
face MIAA co-champion Hope (20-13) in Saturday's final scheduled to begin at 
7:00 pm. Hope defeated Kalamazoo 30-25, 30-20, 30-22 in Friday's second 
semifinal. The championship final will pit the two conference rivals for third 
straight year with Calvin defeating Hope in five games in the 1999 final and 
Hope defeating Calvin in four games in the 2000 final. During the 2001 MIAA 
regular season, each school won its home court as Hope defeated Calvin in four 
games at the Dow Center in September with Calvin defeating the Flying Dutch in 
five games at the Calvin Fieldhouse in October. The winner of Saturday night's 
match will receive the MIAA's automatic bid to next week's NCAA III Tournament. 

Calvin's victory over the regionally-ranked Scots of Alma (24-10) marked its 
third straight win over Alma in the MIAA Tournament semifinals. 

Calvin pulled ahead for sizable leads in game one and game two and held on for 
the win in each game. In game three, Calvin used a come-from-behind effort as 
the Knights trailed the Scots 10-2 before ripping off an 18-5 scoring run to 
take a 20-15 lead. The Calvin run was fueled by the strong net play of junior 
Melissa Pell (Fremont) who collected three blocks in the surge and also served 
up a number of service points. Holding a five-point lead, Calvin then outscored 
Alma 10-6 to close out the match. 

Junior Cassie Christopher (Fruitport) and freshman Kristin DeGroot (Tulare, CA) 
came up with 11 kills apiece for the Knights while Pell had nine kills, five 
blocks, five digs and one service ace. Christopher had a solid all-around 
effort as she also tallied 11 digs. Senior setter Sara Ahrenholz (Prinsburg, MN) 
dished out 33 assists along with nine digs and one ace while sophomore Tricia 
Balkema (Highland, IN) added 12 digs and three aces.  

Alma was led by Kristi Judson who came up with 13 kills and a match-high 16 
digs. Lindsay Baker also dished out 23 assists and added 10 digs for the Scots. 

"We had a strong performance," said Calvin volleyball coach Jerry Bergsma. "We 
held our focus from start-to-finish and the result was a victory. We'll need 
the same kind of effort tomorrow night to give ourselves a chance to win."