Women's Basketball Puts Three on All-MIAA First Team; Claims MVP, Top Defensive Honors

Kenedy Schoonveld, Olivia Voskuil, and Sydney Muller spearheaded the Hope College women's basketball team's drive to back-to-back undefeated seasons.

All three are receiving All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association First Team recognition from the league's coaches — with additional honors going to Schoonveld as the MIAA's Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season and Voskuil the MIAA Defensive Player of the Year for the third time.

Hope claimed three of the six spots for All-MIAA First Team honors.

The Flying Dutch won all 16 of its games this season, including three last week to capture the MIAA Tournament title. Hope now has a program-record 45-game winning streak that is the eighth-longest in NCAA Division III history.

Hope's MIAA MVPs and Defensive Players of the Year

Schoonveld, a social work major, is the first member of the Flying Dutch to earn MVP distinction in back-to-back seasons. The guard joins two former Hope standouts who were two-time recipients: Maura McAfee (2014 and 2016) and Amanda Kerkstra (2001 and 2003).

The senior from Zeeland, Michigan (Holland Christian HS) topped the Flying Dutch in scoring at 10.2 points per game while shooting 48.8 percent from the field. She also averaged 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while committing only 0.6 turnovers per game.

On January 30, Schoonveld became the 17th Hope women's basketball team to reach 1,000 career points. She has been named All-MIAA First Team four times.

Head coach Brian Morehouse said that while his team had three MVP candidates this season, Schoonveld is very deserving of the honor.

"She had a super consistent year. She guarded the other team's best perimeter player all year long. She was very efficient from the field and 3," Morehouse said. "Another untold story was her leadership; it was fantastic this year on and off the court."

Voskuil, a civil engineering major, becomes the second MIAA student-athlete to claim Defensive Player of the Year honors three times. Hope guard Liz Ellis (2011-13) is the other.

The senior forward from Holland, Michigan (Holland Christian) led the MIAA in steals at 2.3 per game and finished second in blocked shots at 2.1 per game. Voskuil also contributed 9.3 points and a team-leading 6.3 rebounds per game.

This is Voskuil's third All-MIAA First Team selection. She also earned second-team honors as a sophomore in 2019.

Statistics do not fully measure the full range of Voskuil's defensive prowess, Morehouse said.

"She just would wreck the other team's offensive plans," Morehouse said. "She blows up everything everybody wants to do — not only is she long and blocks shots, the number of steals she gets. You could see her grow, from her freshman year to her senior year, on where people are going to try and attack us. She'd step into passing lanes to help out her teammates when she saw something developing. It's absolutely amazing. She is the best defensive player I have ever coached."

Muller excelled after returning from an injury that cost her the second half of the 2019-20 season.

The senior guard from Grand Rapids, Michigan (Grand Rapids Christian) finished second on the team in scoring at 9.4 points per game on 51.9 percent shooting from the field. Muller, an exercise science major, led Hope with 2.3 assists per game.

"Inspirational would be what I say about her comeback," Morehouse said. "Most players lose a significant amount of skill because they don't touch a basketball. She actually had a higher percentage of this year than she did the year before from the field. That is mind-blowing when you don't have an opportunity to have a ball in your hand as much as you would have liked since her surgery last February."

Hope's All-Time, All-MIAA Honorees

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