GRAND RAPIDS - The Calvin volleyball team fought through a game Aurora University team to advance to the second round of the NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament with a 3-1 win by the scores of 25-20, 25-16, 22-25 and 25-22 on Thursday.

The Spartans jumped out to a 16-8 advantage in the early going of the opening set, but Aubrey Wrubel (Jenison, Mich./Jenison) served seven straight points after a side-out to get the Knights back in the set 16-16. Once the Knights got back to level, they outscored the Spartans 9-4 the rest of the way to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Calvin continued to ride that momentum into the second set as they built an early lead and then closed the Spartans out to take a commanding 2-0 lead.

Aurora would not go away quietly, however, and roared back in the third set. While Calvin looked to end the match, the Spartans held firm down the stretch to win the set 25-22 and force a fourth set.

The Spartans continued to battle in the fourth game and even held an 18-15 lead, but the Knights fought back with the help of four late kills by Heidi Westra (Clarendon Hills, Ill./Timothy Christian) and scored the last three points to secure the four-set win.

Westra was dominant all around in the match, recording a match-best 23 kills while hitting .375 on the attack, and also setting a new career-high for a four-set match with 24 digs. 

Maria Bos (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) added 10 kills of her own, while Vanessa Martinez set a new career-high with eight blocks.

Alyssa DeVries finished with 50 assists. Aubrey Wrubel added 23 digs.

Calvin improved to 26-3 on the season with the win. Aurora's season ended with a 22-10 record.

COACH'S COMMENT: "I thought they (Aurora) played their guts out. We knew they were going to be good," Calvin head coach Dr. Amber Warners said. "They have some really solid players and James (Seitelman) is a really good coach. We ame out maybe a little nervous, but we settled into the match quite quickly and I thought we played really well. We played well defensively, and I thought we served really well the first couple sets."

You can hear more from coach Warners, along with seniors Westra and Bos, in the video of their post-match press conference below:



NEXT UP: Calvin volleyball will return to action tomorrow (Friday, November 11) when it plays fourth-seeded UW-Oshkosh in the tournament's second round. UW-Oshkosh defeated fifth-seeded Otterbein on Friday in five sets.