No. 1 Calvin 3, No. 7 Mount Union 0
No. 1 Calvin 3, No. 13 Wittenberg 0
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The top-ranked Calvin women’s volleyball is now the only unbeaten team in Division III. On Friday, Calvin defeated Mount Union and Wittenberg in a pair of three-set matches at the Midwest Challenge.
Mount Union and Calvin entered the day as the only two teams in Division III left unbeaten. Ranked seventh nationally, Mount Union suffered an early afternoon defeat to Wittenberg and then fell to Calvin 25-23, 25-22, 25-21 later Friday afternoon.
Calvin then toppled 13th-ranked Wittenberg Friday evening by scores of 25-13, 25-15, 25-18.
No. 2 Hope 3, No. 6 Elmhurst 2
HOLLAND, Mich. -- The first five-set match of the season still ended in familiar fashion for second-ranked Hope.
The Flying Dutch won for the 21st time this season, outlasting sixth-ranked Elmhurst (Ill.) 25-14, 25-23, 18-25, 22-25, 15-12 at the Midwest Volleyball Challenge on Friday night in front of a DeVos Fieldhouse crowd of 509.
Hope (21-1 overall) scored eight of the match's final 13 points, including a win-clinching kill from junior outside hitter Jenna Grasmeyer of Jenison.
Junior hitter Amy VanderStoep of Holland collected a match-high 17 kills for Hope, including five during the decisive last set.
Grasmeyer chipped in 15 kills, while senior Courtney Earles of Kentwood had 11.
No. 2 Hope 3, No. 27 Clarkson 0
HOLLAND, Mich. -- Hope opened the 2013 Midwest Volleyball Challenge by sweeping No. 27 Clarkson (N.Y.) in three sets on Friday at DeVos Fieldhouse.
The 25-19, 25-17, 25-16 win clinched the Flying Dutch's ninth consecutive 20-win season.
Clarkson (17-5) is the first of four nationally-ranked teams Hope is facing this weekend.
Senior hitter Amy VanderStoep of Holland led a balanced Hope attack with 12 kills in 17 attempts for a team-high .647 kill percentage. She only had one hitting error.
No. 6 Elmhurst 3, Clarkson 0
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Bluejays scored their 22nd win of the season by recording their second victory of the year against Clarkson. Elmhurst led by as many as six points in the opening set (17-11) before Clarkson pulled even at 19-19. Elmhurst opened up a 24-22 lead, but Clarkson fought off two set points to tie the score at 24-all. A kill by Sam Szarmach and an ace from Hannah Lessen gave the Bluejays the first set at 26-24.
The Bluejays fell behind early in the second set, trailing 14-10 before mounting a rally. Elmhurst closed to within a point at 20-19, but Clarkson opened its lead back to two at 23-21. A kill by Jess Suarez, two errors from Clarkson and an ace from Lauren Lorenz gave Elmhurst the second set at 25-23.
Elmhurst grabbed a quick 4-0 lead in the third set, only to see Clarkson surge in front at 9-7. The Bluejays answered back with a 10-1 run to build a 17-10 lead and then pulled away for the 25-20 win.
No. 8 Juniata 3, Bridgewater (Va.) 0
SALISBURY, Md. -- No. 8 Juniata improved to 19-1 this evening, defeating Bridgewater (Va.) 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-13) in its opening game of the Sea Gull Classic hosted by Salisbury .
"The game posed some challenges," said head coach Heather Pavlik. "We got a slow start and they came out very very hot. They are coached by one of our alums and I thought she did a fabulous job. She was very prepared and her team was very prepared. We wanted to get the ball to the middles and probably didn't do enough of that in the first game and a half of so. We certainly did better with that in game three and in game two a bit. Once we started to get the middles some good swings good things started to happen for us."
No. 9 Colorado College 3, Austin 0
SHREVEPORT, La. -- Sophomore outside hitter Emily Phillips posted her eighth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 17 digs to lead Colorado College to a 25-21, 25-15, 25-21 victory against Austin College on Friday afternoon at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference divisional matches at Centenary College.
With their 17th three-set victory of the season, the Tigers improved to 23-1 overall and 7-1 in league play.
Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Hahn also put down 11 kills, while sophomore opposite hitter Courtney Birkett added 10 more.
Birkett was hot early, recording five kills and an ace during a tight first set when CC used a 5-1 run to pull away from the Kangaroos after they had pulled to within 16-15.
Leading 10-8 in the second set, Colorado College took control of the match by outscoring Austin, 15-7.
The 'Roos did their best to extend the contest, overcoming an early 9-4 deficit with a 9-1 run to build a 13-11 advantage in the third set. The teams traded leads six times before the Tigers scored the last five points to close out the match.
