GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The 15th-ranked Calvin University women's volleyball team played its first home matches of the season on Friday to open the Calvin Invite and recorded a pair of wins over SUNY Cortland and 16th-ranked UW-Whitewater.
Calvin (8-1) started the day with a 3-0 win over Cortland (4-4) by the scores of 25-16, 25-9 and 27-25 before closing the night with a thrilling five-set win over Whitewater (4-4) by the scores of 22-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-17 and 15-11.
Match 1
Calvin started the day with a strong performance in a 3-0 sweep of Cortland.
The Knights won the opening set 25-16 with the help of six kills from
Sarah Bradley (Clarkston, Mich./Everest Collegiate) and then ran away with set two 25-9 as
Delaney Kemp (Frisco, Texas/Frisco Centennial) served nine straight points to push the Knights to a 2-0 lead.
The Red Dragons fought back late in the third set and overcame a 24-20 deficit with a 5-0 run while saving four straight match points, but a block by
Mary Boa (Atlanta, Ga./Riverwood International Charter) saved a set point for the Knights at 25-24 and Bradley recorded the match-winning kill to make it 27-25 and finish off the sweep.
Bradley led Calvin with 17 total kills while
Caralee Schipper (Mount Brydges, Ontario/Strathroy District Collegiate Institute) and
Allison Moore (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter Christian) each finished with eight. The Knights hit .310 for the match on the attack.
Olivia Peterson (Muskegon, Mich./North Muskegon) finished with 43 assists and six kills.
Lina Kasuboski (Racine, Wis./Union Grove) led the Knights with 12 digs.
Match 2
The Knights came back from a 2-1 deficit to top 16th-ranked UW-Whitewater in five sets to close the day.
The Warhawks started strong and took the opening set 25-22, but Calvin roared back to win the second set 25-17 and even the match. The Knights never trailed in the second set and hit .294 on the attack, led by Bradley with six kills.
UWW came back to win the third set 25-23 after trailing 21-18 late, but the Knights once again responded in the fourth game with a 25-17 win. Bradley again led the attack with five kills and the Knights recorded five blocks in the set, led by four from
Kate Van Appledorn (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian).
Jordan Steen (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian) led Calvin with five digs in the set.
In the fifth and deciding set, the teams traded points early but the Knights began to assert themselves with a 5-1 run to take a 9-5 lead with the help of three points off the serve of
Grace Spoelma (Caledonia, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian). Bradley once again came up big on the attack with four kills and teamed with Van Appledorn to record the game-winning block with the score 14-11 to close out the match.
Bradley finished with 23 kills to set a new career high. The Knights fought off a Warhawk front row that finished with 15 blocks for the match to hit .216, including .423 in the fourth set and .375 in the fifth and final game.
Van Appledorn and Moore each recorded 11 kills, with Moore hitting .476 for the match.
Tryna Vander Zwaag (Hamilton, Mich./Holland Christian) finished with 17 digs while Steen added 14. Van Appledorn led the Knights with eight blocks in the match.
COACH'S COMMENT: "It was gritty tonight," head coach Dr.
Amber Warners said. "There were times we didn't play well. We have to learn to thrive in these situations because I think we're going to be in them a lot, so I'm just really happy with their grit tonight."
NEXT UP: Calvin women's volleyball will return to action tomorrow (Saturday, September 19) when it hosts Otterbein University at 2:00 PM to close out the Calvin Invite at Van Noord Arena.
