Grand Rapids, MI: Calvin hosted Hope in the MIAA Women's Volleyball Tournament final Saturday afternoon. The championship game was a rematch of the regular season de facto conference title game a week before, a match that saw the Knights taking a 3-0 victory.

This time around, the story was different, with the Flying Dutch dominating down the stretch to take a 3-1 victory and claim the conference tournament crown. Hope finished the spring season at 9-1 with the win, while Calvin dropped to 9-1 on the season. 

Calvin established excellent momentum at the beginning of the match, building a 10-7 lead in the first set and prompting a Hope timeout. Calvin's lead continued to climb in the early goings, and it eventually gave way to a 25-16 set one victory. Calvin was rolling with momentum, spurred by four kills by McKenna Covey and Heidi Westra each. Calvin had only dropped one set all year at that point, that coming back in March. 

The Knights kept the momentum rolling into the second set, a set that proved pivotal in the outcome of the game. Calvin built a 7-3 advantage to force a quick timeout from Hope. Hope continued to battle back and forth with the Knights, but the Knights surged ahead to grab a 22-19 lead late in the set. After another Hope timeout, Calvin battled forward to take a 24-22 lead. Hope staved off two consecutive set points to tie the match back up at 24-24, forcing a Calvin timeout. Hope then grabbed the advantage 25-24, causing a second consecutive Calvin timeout. Calvin evened it back up, and then did it again after another Hope advantage. However, the Hope momentum proved too much, and the Flying Dutch completed the set two comeback 28-26. 

Once the Flying Dutch grabbed that momentum at the end of the second set, they did not look back. Hope built a 10-7 lead in the third that quickly ballooned to 19-13. Calvin could not find an answer for the Hope block, and the Dutch cruised to a 25-17 set three victory. With the 2-1 set lead, Hope rolled into set number four with all the momentum. 

That proved to be too much in the fourth set for the Knights to answer. Hope steadily built the lead to 16-10, and Calvin took its second timeout of the set at that point. Calvin battled to keep the deficit at six, trailing 22-16 at one point in the fourth. Hope was on their way to victory at that point, however, and they took set four 25-16. 

Hope overwhelmed the Knights behind 18 kills from Ana Grunewald and 9 total blocks from Charlotte Brecht. The Knights were led by Heidi Westra, who had 16 kills and 11 digs. Anna Schriemer also played well for the Knights in the losing effort, chalking up 33 assists and four service aces. 

Hope head coach Becky Schmidt had high praise for the Knights after the close and competitive match. "Credit to Calvin, they have done a great job being so consistent this year," she said. "We knew we would have to play our absolute best to win." 

Calvin head coach Amber Warners had high praise for the victorious Flying Dutch as well. "Congratulations to Hope, they played a really nice match," she said. "We came out well but then we got a little timid. When you play a little tentative and you let the opponent get in system, that makes all the difference." 

Despite the loss, Warners looks forward to the future. "When you get stung with a loss at the end of a season, there is no better motivation for the offseason." She also mentioned her pride in what the Knights accomplished this year, saying "We were missing one of our better players all year, and we still accomplished so much. While winning the conference tournament is always a goal, we accomplished every other goal we had for this season. We are way further along at this point for next year than I ever thought we'd be." 

Calvin finishes the year as the regular season champion and the conference tournament runner-up.