Volleyball shines at Midwest Invitational

SARA FELDPAUSCH (’17) — The Senior hitter lead the Flying Dutch with 42 kills over the weekend. (Photo: Hope.edu)

ALEXIS THOMPSON (’17) — The Senior libero lead the Flying Dutch with 121 digs over the weekend. (Photo: Hope.edu)

Hope Volleyball went 3-1 over the weekend at the Midwest Invitational held at DeVos Fieldhouse. On Friday, Hope swept both Heidelberg College and Wheaton College 3-0.

After trailing most of the first set against Heidelberg, Hope rallied late to win the set 26-24 and went on to complete the sweep winning both the second and third sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-21 respectively. Sarah Feldpausch (’17) lead the Flying Dutch with 12 kills, Alexis Thompson (’17) finished with 27 digs and Sophie Hackett (’18) recorded 37 assists.

Against Wheaton, whom Hope swept by scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-20, Courtney VanHouzen (’17) lead the Dutch with seven kills and eight blocks, while Hackett lead the Dutch with 23 digs.

On Saturday, Hope started off on a rough note dropping their first match to Elmhurst College: 25-19, 19-25, 24-26, 17-25. Katie Rietberg (’19), Vanessa Reynhout (’19) and VanHouzen lead Hope, all with 11 kills. Reynhout also chipped in 4 blocks and Thompson recorded 35 digs.

Hope bounced back in their second match defeating Clarkson University in five sets: 20-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-18 and 15-6. Feldpausch lead Hope with 19 kills, Haley Muller had four blocks and Thompson lead the defense with 44 digs.

Hope’s record is now at 19-3 on the season 9-1 in the MIAA. The Dutch will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Albion College to take on the Britons. Then Hope returns home to the friendly confines of DeVos Fieldhouse to take on Trine University on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.