For the 13th time in school history and for the fifth time in the last seven 
years, the Calvin women's volleyball team is NCAA III Tournament bound. The 
Knights booked their ticket to the NCAA III Tournament with a momentous 30-21, 
30-26, 30-22 victory over rival Hope in the MIAA Tournament Championship final 
Saturday night at Hope's Dow Center. 

Calvin's victory over Hope Saturday night marked its first victory over the 
Flying Dutch at the Dow Center since 1993. It also marked Calvin's second 
consecutive win in as many nights over an MIAA co-champion as the Knights had 
defeated MIAA co-champ Alma Friday and then achieved the feat over MIAA 
co-champion Hope Saturday. 

Calvin's MIAA Tournament title was its second as the Knights were also MIAA 
Tournament champions in 1999, defeating Hope in five games in the 1999 title 
tilt. Hope came back to claim the 2000 title with a four-game win over Calvin 
in the tournament final. 

Calvin seized momentum from the outset and never let it go as Hope would not 
string together a run longer than three points the entire match. Calvin jumped 
out to a 17-8 lead in game one and traded points with Hope the rest of the game 
to gain a game one win. In game two, Calvin built a 22-16 lead only to see Hope 
(20-13) close to within three points at 23-20. The Knights then ripped off four 
straight points capped off by a kill by freshman Kathy Brenneman (North 
Muskegon). Brenneman later added a block for Calvin's 29th point as the Knights 
would hold on for the 30-26 game two win. In game three, Calvin went up 19-12 
and maintained a five-point lead the rest of the game. Freshman Kara Kuipers 
(Unity Christian) scored Calvin's 28th point on a block and then picked up the 
29th point for the Knights on a kill. Hope came back with a point to trail 
29-22 but a service error by the Flying Dutch closed out the match. 

Junior Cassie Christopher (Fruitport) led the Knight attack with 12 kills along 
with eight digs while junior Melissa Pell (Fremont) had 11 kills, four digs, one 
ace and one block. Freshman Kristin DeGroot (Tulare, CA) picked up eight kills 
and seven digs while Kuipers had six kills and three blocks. Senior setter Sara 
Ahrenholz (Prinsburg, MN) was strong in directing the Calvin offensive thrust, 
collecting 33 assists while also picking up seven digs. 

Hope was led by Martha Luidens who recorded 15 kills while setter McKenna Troyan 
had 31 assists. As a team, Calvin was credited with five service aces while 
committing only five service errors. Hope had two service aces and 12 service 
errors. 

"A big part of our success tonight was due to the play of our defense," said 
Calvin volleyball coach Jerry Bergsma. "We were able to get a lot of defensive 
touches on their offensive attacks. We also had a balanced effort for our 
offensive attack which made it more difficult to defend." 

Calvin will now await its seeding for next week's NCAA III Tournament which will 
open Thursday night with regional play. The Knights are likely headed to either 
Ohio or Wisconsin and will carry a five-match win streak into tournament play. 
"We've played in both locations in the past so we're prepared to go to either 
state if that is the case," said Bergsma. "We're hoping to carry the momentum 
we built in the MIAA Tournament into the NCAA's."