EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - Hope College rallied from a 23-18 deficit in the fourth set and won on a service ace to take down Northwest Conference champion Whitworth University 25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 26-24 in the first round of the NCAA DIII Women's Volleyball tournament on Thursday afternoon at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's McPhee Physical Education Center.
The 6th-ranked Flying Dutch entered the tournament 24-4, and regular season champions of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Pirates entered the tournament with a 21-2 overall record.
Hope dominated the first set. After a 1-1 tie, the Dutch never trailed, recording five team blocks while hitting .294. The Pirates didn't record a single block in the first set and only hit .064 in the first frame. Hope led 24-16 before Whitworth scored three straight to make things interesting.
Trailing 9-7 in the second set, the Pirates finally started to put together sustained successful attacks and used a 5-0 run to take the lead and force Hope to call timeout. The Dutch battled back to tie the game again at 19-19, but Abigail Hudson kills and Kaity Barr blocks sealed the set for the Pirates. Whitworth's hitting average jumped to .219, and the Hope's fell to .134.
The Pirates scored the first two points of the third set, but Hope retook control and led the rest of the set. Their biggest lead was 18-9, although kills from Maddie Lee and Kaity Barr helped rallied Whitworth to within 24-20. McKenna Otto sealed the set with a kill.
The fourth set contained seven ties and two lead changes. Neither team hit well, with Whitworth hitting -0.029 and the Dutchmen hitting 0.023, both teams' lowest average of the match. The Pirates led 23-18 near the end of the match, but Otto kills and Whitworth attack errors allowed Hope to rally and tie the game at 23. Lee retied the game for the Pirates at 24, but the Dutch scored the last two points of the set to win it 26-24.
Lee led the offense for the Pirates with 13 kills and was the only Whitworth player in double figures. She added two service aces and two block assists for 16 points. Barr contributed eight kills, four blocks (two solo, two assists) and an ace for 12 points in the match.
Otto led the Hope offense with 17 kills and six blocks. Ana Grunewald recorded 15 kills, hitting .400.
Hope College will advance to the second round of the tournament tomorrow at 5:30pm against Northwestern (Minn.).
