by Alan Babbitt

A fast-paced opponent served up some early trouble for the sixth-ranked Hope College volleyball team in the NCAA Division III regional semifinals.

The Flying Dutch dug the challenge.

Hope responded to the University of Northwestern (Minnesota)'s second-set win with a superb defense that fueled a 25-22, 21-25, 25-19, 25-23 victory on Friday at the Eau Claire, Wisconsin Regional.

The Flying Dutch (25-4 overall) advanced to the Saturday, Nov. 13, regional final against eighth-ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. First serve is 7 p.m. Central.

"The message was 'Win the serve-pass game," senior setter and MIAA MVP Tracy Westra said of her team's discussion between the second and third sets. "That was a big factor for us, being able to run our offense, because of how quick theirs was; it's hard to defend against them. Once we did, we were able to run our middles."

Added head coach Becky Schmidt, "Northwestern-St. Paul is one heck of a team. They were difficult to prepare for because they run such fast tempos.'

Westra, pictured right, and her teammates finished with 76 digs — most in a four-set match this season. Hope also only committed six serve-receive errors — matching a season-best in four-set matches this fall.

Five Flying Dutch hit the double-digit mark in digs, led by 22 from sophomore libero and MIAA Defensive Player of the Year Maggie Wehrmeyer (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa). 

Senior outside hitter Ana Grunewald (Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Grand Rapids) registered 16 digs. Three of her teammates had 11 digs apiece: senior middle blocker McKenna Otto (Wheaton, Illinois / Wheaton North), senior defensive specialist Grace Pettinger (Mount Vernon, Iowa / Mount Vernon), pictured left, and Westra  (Clarendon Hills, Illinois / Timothy Christian HS).

Smooth handling of Northwestern's serves allowed Westra to find a vast number of attackers and unleash a potent attack that overcame a match-high 21 kills from Northwestern's Abby Glanzer.

Westra finished with 47 assists that set up four of her teammates for double-digit kills.

Grunewald and Otto recorded 12 kills apiece.

Senior outside hitter Rose Thompson (Coopersville, Michigan / Unity Christian) totaled 11 kills. 

Junior middle blocker Charlotte Brecht (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan / Grosse Pointe South) recorded 10 kills.

Senior outside hitter Molly Ligon (Beverly Hills, Michigan / Birmingham Seaholm) added eight kills. Westra had seven.

"We were mentally dialed in," Thompson said. "It will be awesome when we get firing on all cylinders. I feel like we got closer today."

This is Hope's sixth trip to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Eau Claire defeated No. 19 Gustavus Adolphus College (Minnesota) in four sets in Friday's second semifinal.

"I think every coach in America will say the serve-pass game," Schmidt said when asked about keys to victory in the regional final. "But another one of those things is going to be toughness. This is going to be an environment that's going to be a ruckus. We've got to be ready to handle that.

"It's going to be two teams fighting for their lives to keep this season going. We need to be able to take some punches and be able to deliver some ourselves."