The Flying Dutch have their sights set this season on contending for the 12th Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) championship in school history and the 11th berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Hope is coming off a 29-5 season in which the Flying Dutch reached the 20-win mark for the eighth consecutive time and advanced to the second round of the national tournament in their fifth consecutive postseason appearance. Hope finished seventh in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III poll.
The Flying Dutch will play at their home — DeVos Fieldhouse — on 10 different dates during the regular season, beginning with the September 3 home and MIAA opener against Alma College. Their ultimate goal is to play the November 21-23 national championships at DeVos.
Coach Becky Schmidt is entering her 10th season at Hope. She is the program's all-time wins leader for coaches with a 236-68 record, including a 141-19 mark in MIAA play.
Hope's roster of 20 features two seniors, five juniors, five sophomores and eight freshmen.
Co-captains are senior middle hitter Courtney Earles of Kentwood (East Kentwood HS), junior outside hitter Jenna Grasmeyer of Hudsonville (Unity Christian HS), senior middle hitter Mari Schoolmaster of Portage (Portage Central HS) and junior middle hitter Jillian Sommerville of Plymouth (Salem HS).
The Flying Dutch were picked fifth in the preseason AVCA poll and second the preseason MIAA coaches poll.
The Flying Dutch return Grasmeyer, a First Team AVCA Division III All-American and an All-MIAA First Teamer. In 2012, Grasmeyer ranked fifth among of Division III players in kills per set at4.36 and eighth in points per set at 5.01. Grasmeyer set a Hope single season mark for kills per set.
Grasmeyer is one of five All-Americans from Hope. She is part of a group that includes Becky Schmidt (1998), Andrea Helminiak (2009), Jacie Fiedler (2010) and Greer Bratschie (2012).
Schoolmaster, Grasmeyer and Bratschie all earned AVCA all-region honors in 2012.
In 2012, the Flying Dutch were the Division III national leader in two statistical categories. Hope led the 420 Division III teams in assists per set at 12.82 and kills per set at 13.88. The Flying Dutch also ranked eighth in hitting percentage at .268 and 32nd in blocks per set at 2.12.
Hope has excelled in the classroom as well. The Flying Dutch earned the league's Team GPA award last season by recording the second-highest Team GPA in the MIAA at 3.671.
