by Dena Meiste

The #4-ranked Hope College volleyball team faced two formidable opponents to open the Midwest Invitational, hosted by Calvin University. The Flying Dutch stumbled against #2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps but bounced back with a shutout win over Millikin University.

Hope, now 19-3 on the season, opened the twin bill vs. the CMS Athenas, who headed into the tournament with an untarnished 20-0 record. Although the Flying Dutch were able to take a set – just the sixth team to do so against CMS this season – Hope was unable to claim the match victory and bowed out in four, 25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 25-16.

Hope turned right back around to go up against Millikin, though, a team receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll, and had little trouble sweeping the Big Blue, 25-18, 25-20, 25-20.

Although the Flying Dutch were well matched on the attack with CMS, the Athenas won the contest from the service line, dishing out an impressive 11 aces. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' defense caused further frustration, with 13 blocks to Hope's seven and a 69-60 advantage in digs.

Senior outside hitter Ana Grunewald (Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Grand Rapids), pictured right, paced the Hope offense in the match, nailing down 13 kills. Sennior middle blocker McKenna Otto (Wheaton, Illinois / Wheaton North) also reached double digits with 11, followed by junior middle blocker Charlotte Brecht (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan / Grosse Pointe South) with 10.

Maggie Wehrmeyer (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa) continued to impress in the backcourt, picking up 18 digs.

Tracy Westra (Clarendon Hills, Illinois / Timothy Christian) contributed with 14 digs, 29 assists and four blocks.

The Flying Dutch were untouchable in the second match of the day, starting with Grunewald's first turn at the service line, where she served up four aces to lift Hope to a 7-0 advantage. Deflated, Milliken was never able to recover from the slow start and the Dutch won 25-18.

The Big Blue did bounce back in set two, leading midway through the stanza by three points, 12-9, but Grunewald tipped the scales back in Hope's favor with another impressive run at the service line. The senior handed out another two aces, while Rose Thompson added a block and two kills in successive points to highlight the 8-0 run.

Hope cruised on to win the frame, 25-20.

Grunewald continued her assault on serve to open set three, and the Flying Dutch found themselves with a controlling 6-0 lead. Millikin made an impressive comeback at the midway point, going ahead by one at 16-15, but a Hope sideout put Grunewald back on the line where she once again served her team to a 22-16 lead before the Big Blue could come up with an answer. Hope took the final set 25-20.

Hope ended the match with eight service aces, seven of them belonging to Grunewald. The senior also had 14 digs.

Senior outside hitter Rose Thompson (Coopersville, Michigan / Unity Christian), pcitured left, had a tremendous match offensively in her return, leading all hitters with 12 kills earned at a .375 (12 kills-3 errors-24 attempts) clip.

Westra did a little bit of everything with seven kills on nine attempts, 14 digs and 31 assists.

Wehrmeyer added another 17 digs and is now averaging 5.69 digs/set.

Hope concludes action at the Midwest Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 23 vs. Ohio Northern at 11 a.m.