Hope College volleyball returned to DeVos Fieldhouse on Tuesday night, defeating St. Mary's (Ind.) 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-13). The Flying Dutch improved to 12-4 overall and 3-1 in MIAA conference play.
"I thought once we settled in serve/receive, we created a lot more opportunities for our hitters and found an offensive rhythm that is more like what we're used to playing with," said head coach Becky Schmidt of the eighth sweep of the season.
Down 8-3 in the first set, Hope dug themselves out on a 5-0 point run led by freshman Lauren Lee on the serve, who collected two of her four service aces of the game in point surge that brought the game to an 8-8 tie.
Lee (Ann Arbor, Michigan / Skyline HS) would lead the assists category for Hope, tallying a team-high and a game-high 31 assists.
Sophomore Annie Lockett (Mason, Ohio / William Mason) paced all Flying Dutch hitters in the win with nine kills, while seniors Jenna Core (Spring Lake, Michigan / Spring Lake) and Emma Post (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville) contributed seven and six kills a piece, respectively. Core hit a season-best thus far .700 with her seven kills on ten attempts.
Junior Olivia Fiebing (Traverse City, Michigan / Central) led with nine digs for Hope. Post recorded eight digs while both Lockett and sophomore Grace Marshall (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) each picked up seven digs in the win.
Senior Charlotte Brecht (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan / Grosse Pointe South) and Lockett shared a team-high and game-high three blocks.
The Flying Dutch held St. Mary's below 50% attack percentage for all three sets, while the home squad hit above 55% throughout the sweep, grabbing a 69% attack percentage in the third set to seal the deal.
"I think one of the things that kept us in the game, especially in that first set, was our blocking, and the conversion opportunities that we had on defense. I think we scrambled pretty well to keep balls off the floor and then found ways to engage our middles so that it kept their defense out of rhythm."
Hope heads back out on the road as they take on a three-game road trip this weekend, October 7-8. The orange and blue face Endicott on Friday, October 7 at 6 p.m. and have a double-header day on Saturday, October 8 with Bates at 2:30 p.m. and Tufts at 5 p.m. in Massachusetts.
