Hope serves Calvin first loss of the season

Volleyball going back to Whitewater, Wisconsin. Flying Dutch upset Knights to win MIAA tournament title

SAY CHEESE — Members of the Hope College Flying Dutch Volleyball team pose with Head Coach Becky Schmidt, all smiles after securing a victory against the Calvin Knights. (Hope.edu)

Over the weekend, Hope College students added another point to the list of why they believe that Hope is better than rival Calvin College.

On Saturday, The Flying Dutch downed the Knights and in doing so, handed them the first loss of their season. Calvin (27-1) took the first set, Hope (25-5) took the second and third, Calvin took the fourth and in a nail biter, Hope took the last one. Hope’s 14-25, 25-22, 25-16, 19-25, 15-13 win secures them a spot in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Volleyball Head coach, Becky Schmidt, had some great things to say on the performance of her team. “It feels good to get that win, to see our team respond in some pressure moments.” She goes on to say that she appreciates the intensity and competitiveness that comes with the sport, which was evident in the way that both teams played. She said, “That was two good teams slogging it out.”

Hope’s very own Vanessa Reynhout (’19) and Katie Rietberg (’19) got the block that secured sweet victory after a long and hard fought game. Calvin may not be as bad as Hope students believe it may be, as Calvin coach Amber Warners showed in good sportsmanship. She said, “I want to first congratulate Hope. They deserved the victory tonight.” She went on to say, “The one thing that I loved about our team is the way they kept fighting hard even when we were not having our best match.”

In the game, Reynhout had a total of 8 kills. Outside hitter Sarah Feldpausch (’17) recorded a total of 9 kills and middle Courtney Van Houzen (’17) led the way and recorded 10 kills to her name.

The 10th-ranked Flying Dutch team will indeed be heading back to Wisconsin for the NCAA Division III tournament. The postseason will open against the 18th-ranked Elmhurst College (22-12) on Nov. 10, 5:30 p.m. The winner of this match up will go against either the 11th-ranked Whitewater University (27-6) or Greenville Illinois College (25-7).

This is Hope’s fourteenth showing in the NCAA Tournament and its ninth consecutive appearance there. The Flying Dutch brought back a championship title in 2014 but unfortunately lost in the first round last season.

The whole Hope community has nothing but high expectations for this volleyball team and hopes for nothing but the best to come. Keep watch and follow them to see how the team does in the post season.