by Dena Meiste

The Hope College volleyball team, up to No. 4 in Tuesday's release of AVCA national rankings, swept Trine University on Tuesday evening inside DeVos Fieldhouse. The Flying Dutch took the contest by set scores of 25-13, 26-24, 25-18.

Hope's relentless offensive attack was no match for Trine, with the home side converting 105 attack attempts into 41 kills. On the other side of the net, the Thunder only managed 22 kills off 97 swings.

The Flying Dutch (15-1, 4-0 MIA) also had a stellar match defensively, picking up 50 digs to keep the opponent kill totals low. 

Maggie Wehrmeyer (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa), hot off a record-setting 44-dig performance in last week's 3-2 win at Calvin University, tallied another 17 digs tonight against Trine. The sophomore ranks seventh in the nation with her 5.98 digs/set average.

In her first start of the season, junior outside hitter Emma Post (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville) pegged down a match-best 10 kills earned at a blistering .562 attack percentage. 

McKenna Otto (Wheaton, Illinois / Wheaton North) scored a team-best 12.0 points with her contribution of nine kills and a pair of aces. The senior added 11 digs on defense.

Other top performers included Grace Pettinger (Mt. Vernon, Iowa / Mt. Vernon) with eight digs, Charlotte Brecht (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan / Grosse Pointe South) with seven kills, and Tracy Westra (Clarendon Hills, Illinois / Timothy Christian) with 33 assists.

With a 17-5 advantage in kills, Hope was in firm control of the opening set from the first serve to last. Post and Otto put on an offensive clinic, combining for 10 kills earned off 13 errorless swings to help elevate the Dutch to the 25-13 win.

Photo by Lynne Powe

The Thunder proved a much more formidable opponent in the second stanza, going point-for-point with the Dutch through the first 28 serves. Although Trine threatened to steal the set away when they erased three game points to even the score 24-24, Hope earned the side out to put the ball back on its side of the net. The Dutch were able to capitalize on their fourth set point, with Jenna Core (Spring Lake, Michigan / Spring Lake)  bouncing an attack hard off the Trine block and out of bounds to put the exclamation point on the set, 26-24. 

In set three, the Hope defense never allowed the Thunder to fall into any sort of offensive rhythm, forcing several attack errors along the way. The Flying Dutch put the final set away 25-18 to clinch the 3-0 out shutout.

The Flying Dutch host Kalamazoo College (4-14, 0-3 MIAA) inside the DeVos Fieldhouse on Friday, Oct. 8 at 6:30 p.m.