ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Calvin women's volleyball team will play for a national championship Saturday night.

The Knights punched their ticket to the NCAA III Championship final with a four-set victory over No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Friday night on the campus of Washington University of St. Louis.

Calvin toppled the Athenas by scores of 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19.

The Knights will face UW-Eau Claire in the national final at 7 p.m. (CST). UW-Eau Claire (34-3) knocked off top-seeded Juniata in five sets in the opening semifinal Friday evening.

Calvin (32-3) victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was its second of the year over the Athenas (31-2) as the Knights had picked up a four-set win over them back on October 22 at Calvin's Midwest Invitational.

The Knights used strong defensive play at the net and in the back row to gain the win. As a team, Calvin compiled six solo blocks and 14 block assists while digging up 73 balls.

Calvin also got off to a strong start, taking set one with a 9-4 run to end the set capped off by a kill by junior Heidi Westra (Clarendon Hills, Il./Timothy Christian HS).

In set two, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps reversed the momentum and rolled out to a 21-14 lead. Calvin fought back with a 9-3 run to close to within a point at 24-23. The Athenas escaped with the set win however on a Calvin service error.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps grabbed a 12-5 lead in set three but the Knights fought back again, ripping off a 10-1 run to lead 15-13. Mudd-Scripps then led 20-18 and 22-20 but a 5-1 Calvin run fueled by powerful front row blocking by the Knights allowed Calvin to win the set 25-23 with Westra closing out the set with a kill on a feed from senior Anna Schriemer (Vicksburg, Mich./Vicksburg HS).

The four set followed a familiar pattern as the Athenas led 12-6 but Calvin responded with a 11-2 run to lead 17-15. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps closed to within a point at 19-18 but back-to-back kills by Westra put Calvin up 21-18, forcing the Athenas to call timeout.

Schriemer and senior Madelyn Hall (Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville HS) then teamed up for a combo block, Schriemer tallied a kill to the corner and senior Kelsey Smith (Vienna, Va./Madison HS) closed out the set and match with back-to-back kills to send the Knights into the national final Saturday night.

"I thought it was an interesting match tonight," said Calvin head women's volleyball coach Amber Warners. "I thought we played with a lot of heart and emotion which I think helped us at times when we were down. That helped us get to the next point and not worry about the score."

Calvin will now make its eighth appearance in the national final with Warners playing a role in all eight. As a freshman, she was a starting setter on Calvin's 1986 team that reached the national final. She has coached Calvin's last seven teams to reach the national final which will be Calvin's first since 2018.

"I sort of feel like we haven't been here before," said Warners. "You never know if you will have a chance to get back to this point and every year is a new team with new people. The key for us will be staying in the moment, not taking ourselves too seriously and having fun during the day tomorrow. We need to rest and refuel. We are really grateful to have this opportunity."

Calvin was led in the win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps by Westra who tallied 17 kills and 18 digs. Hall had 11 kills, four solo blocks and two block assists. Smith had 10 kills and three block assists. Schriemer was a force with 33 assists, 18 digs, six kills and three service aces. Freshman Vanessa Martinez (Hudsonville, Mich./Wyoming HS) was also pivotal with seven kills, two solo blocks and five block assists. Junior Aubrey Wrubel (Jenison, Mich./Jenison HS) had 12 digs and senior Grace Kellogg (Belleville, Mich./Plymouth Christian Academy) seven digs.

Saturday's match will be streamed online through the NCAA website at: https://www.ncaa.com/game/5908598