ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Calvin women's volleyball advanced to the national semifinals with a thrilling five-set come-from-behind victory over Trinity University of Texas Thursday night on the campus of Washington University of St. Louis.

Calvin defeated the Tigers by scores of 25-20, 19-25, 18-25, 25-19, 15-10.

Seeded sixth out of eight teams in the national quarterfinals, Calvin (31-3) advances to the semifinals to face No. 2 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (31-1) at 7:30 p.m. (CST) Friday night.

Thursday's quarterfinal match between Calvin and Trinity featured a rematch of the 2019 quarterfinals with the Tigers defeating the Knights in five sets in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

On Thursday night, Calvin used grit and determination to turn the tables on the Tigers and advance to the semifinals for the eighth time in 11 years – one of only four programs in NCAA III women's volleyball history to achieve the feat.

Calvin stormed out fast in its win over Trinity grabbing an early 8-1 lead in set one. Trinity later fought back from an 18-11 deficit with a 9-1 run to take a 20-19 lead. Calvin answered with a 6-0 run however to close out the set one win. The final two points of the run came courtesy of a service ace by junior Maria Bos (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) and a kill by senior Madelyn Hall (Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville HS).

Trinity grabbed control of the match by hitting .333 in a 25-19 set two win and .290 in a 25-18 set three win.

The Knights came back to hit .344 in set four however and came back from a 13-12 deficit with a 9-1 run to take a commanding 21-14 lead. A kill by Hall and subsequent back-to-back kills by senior Kelsey Smith (Vienna, Va./Madison HS) closed out the set and forced a pivotal set five – marking Calvin's fifth five-set match of the year.

Behind a strong service run by Smith, Calvin jumped out to a 7-1 set five lead, forcing Trinity to burn both of its timeouts. The Tigers rallied, closing to within two points on three occasionns, trailing 10-8, 11-9 and 12-10.

Calvin junior Heidi Westra (Clarendon Hills, Il./Timothy Christian HS) then came up with a clutch roll shot over the block and down the line for a 13-10 Knight lead. An attack error put Calvin a point away from the win and Westra made good on the opportunity moments later, smacking home an attack off a feed from senior Anna Schriemer (Vicksburg, Mich./Vicksburg HS) to complete the win.

"We are always grateful to be here (national quarterfinals), we never take it for granted," said Calvin head women's volleyball coach Amber Warners. "I think the juniors and seniors on this team just felt like this was another chance for them, finding themselves in the same situation they were two years ago. I think the thing that stands out for me was the defense we played tonight and the look in the eyes or our team whether they were up or down. It never changed and that was really fun for me as a coach."

Named the Division III National Player of the Year the day before, Westra lived up to her billing by smashing home 29 kills and hitting at a .479 clip while digging up 14 balls and picking up an ace and an assist.

Hall had 14 kills and four solo blocks. Smith had a big night with 12 kills and a .320 hitting percentage. Schriemer had 46 assists and 14 digs. Junior libero Aubrey Wrubel (Jenison, Mich./Jenison HS) had 19 digs and eight assists.

As a team, Calvin hit .287.

Calvin now joins (former D3 member) UC-San Diego, Juniata and Washington University of St. Louis as the only four programs to reach the national semifinals eight times in a span of 11 years.

Friday's semifinal match will be the second meeting of the year between Calvin and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with Calvin defeating the Athens in four sets at the Calvin Midwest Invitational back on October 22. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps defeated Berry College in four sets earlier on Thursday night. Also advancing to the semifinals on Thursday were Juniata and Wisconsin-Eau Claire.