GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Calvin University women's volleyball team earned a 3-0 sweep over the Bulldogs from Adrian College by the scores of 25-19, 26-24 and 25-13 on Friday night at Van Noord Arena.

Calvin (14-7, 3-1 MIAA) hit .269 on the attack for the match and finished with 49 total kills in the three sets for an average of 16.3 kills per set. 

Adrian (5-11, 2-3 MIAA) played the Knights tough early, building early leads in each of the first two sets and forcing the Knights to play from behind. The Bulldogs led 11-7 in the opening set, but the Knights used a 12-3 run to take control on the way to a 25-19 opening set win. Aerin Baker (Saugatck, Mich./Saugatuck), Vanessa Martinez (Hudsonville, Mich./Wyoming) and Avery Ekkens (Portage, Mich./Kalamazoo Christian) each finished with four kills in that opening set.

The Bulldogs battled the Knights throughout the second set, which featured nine ties and seven lead changes. Adrian made a run midway through the second set to take a 16-11 lead, but the Knights roared back into the set with three blocks and eventually tied the score at 22-22. Trailing 24-23 late, the Knights held off a set point with an Ekkens kill, and then scored the final two points on kills from Martinez and Baker to take a 2-0 overall lead in the match.

Calvin carried that momentum over into the third set as it raced to a 10-3 early lead and never looked back on the way to finishing off the sweep.

Ekkens came up big for the Knights throughout the match and led the team with 16 kills without an error on the way to a .571 attack efficiency overall. She also added 12 digs for her seventh double-double on the season.

Baker finished with 12 kills, while Delaney Kemp (Frisco, Texas/Frisco Centennial) led all players with 26 assists to go with 14 digs. Mackenzie Gerig (Rochester, N.Y./Hilton) led the Knights with 17 digs. Martinez finished with five of the Knights' eight blocks. 

COACH'S COMMENT: "I thought we played really composed," Calvin head women's volleyball coach Dr. Amber Warners said. "There have been times in the last 10-12 matches where we have panicked and we let a couple of points go, and we start to play tight. I thought we didn't do that tonight at all. I'm really proud of their demeanor on the court and I think we played for each other, which was really evident tonight." 

NEXT UP: Calvin women's volleyball will return to action on Wednesday, October 23, when it continues conference play with a match at Kalamazoo College scheduled to start at 7:00 PM.