Box Score 
Down one point and two sets late in a must-win set, senior Courtney Earles and the second-ranked Hope volleyball team kept the faith. Soon the No. 1 objective was accomplished.
The Flying Dutch rallied to top top-ranked Calvin in five sets on Friday night, winning 25-17, 22-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-7 in front of a DeVos Fieldhouse crowd of 3,051.
Hope (24-1 overall) handed the Knights their first loss of the season and ended an eight-match losing streak to its rival.
"They were pushed into the corner and came fighting out of it. I am proud of the way they responded to that pressure," Hope coach Becky Schmidt said during a post-game press conference. "I can't remember the last time there was a No. 1 and No. 2 in the same conference in the country. It is good volleyball."
The Flying Dutch overcame a 21-20 deficit in the fourth set, putting together a four-point run to seize control and eventually force a fifth set.
Earles, a middle hitter from Kentwood (East Kentwood HS), sparked the decisive swing with a kill that was followed by a service ace from freshman Alexis Thompson of Monroe (St. Mary Catholic Central) and a kill from junior outside hitter Jenna Grasmeyer of Jenison (Hudsonville Unity Christian HS). The kill were sandwiched around two Calvin service errors.
Hope then jumped to a 6-2 lead in the fifth set and cruised to the end of an eight-match, three-season losing streak to Calvin (24-1 overall, 12-1 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association). The Knights swept Hope on Sept. 17 in Grand Rapids.
"I didn't feel it slip away once," Earles said. "Even though we lost those two sets in the middle, we kept each other going."
Earles finished with 12 kills and a team-high .440 kill percentage. Grasmeyer also had 12 kills, while junior outside hiter Anna Lynch of Lake Odessa (Lakewood HS) topped Hope with 16 kills.
Sophomore setter Lauren Hazekamp of Fruitport (Fruitport HS) recorded a match-high 50 assists for the Flying Dutch.
With an 11-1 league record, Hope trails Calvin by one half game in the MIAA standings. The Flying Dutch can match idle Calvin on Saturday at noon with a win at Saint Mary's.
