After the 17th-ranked Hope College volleyball team won a gritty, five-set battle against No. 18-ranked Albion College on Tuesday night, head coach Becky Schmidt '99 received the 500th win of her coaching career. 

The 25-22, 24-26, 21-25, 26-24, 15-11 victory over the unbeaten Britons meant more than just a 1-0 start to MIAA play and a 9-3 start to the season.

After discussing the Hope volleyball team's resilience, fight, and tenacity, Schmidt, pictured, shared what the big milestone meant to her, her thankfulness for the coaches she has worked with, her-student-athletes, and the Hope College Athletics administration. 

An emotional Schmidt said, "[This accomplishment] means that I've been blessed to be able to coach a lot of really great players, and be at a really great school….I'm thankful for an administration that supports volleyball in such a strong and powerful way."

Schmidt became just the fifth coach in Hope College Athletics history to reach this memorable milestone, joining the ranks of current coaches Brian Morehouse (women's basketball) and Stu Fritz (baseball), as well as past coaches Glenn Van Wieren (men's basketball) and Karla Wolters (softball). 

At Hope, Schmidt owns a 462-123 record over 19 seasons that includes a 2014 national championship. Prior to returning to her alma mater, Schmidt coached Redlands (California) to a 38-33 record over three seasons.

Against Albion, sophomore Annie Lockett led the attack with a team-high and game-high 24 kills. The sophomore from Mason, Ohio (William Mason HS) also served up six aces against the Brits. 

Sophomore Alison DeWeerd (Kentwood, Michigan / South Christian) and senior Emma Post (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville) chipped in 16 and 11 kills, respectively. DeWeerd had a game-high three solo blocks. 

Freshman Lauren Lee (Plymouth, Michigan / Saline) totaled 59 assists, while junior Olivia Fiebing (Traverse City, Michigan / Central) had 35 digs.

"[This team] really just stepped up when they needed to," Schmidt said. "I really thought in their fourth set when we started making a little bit more of a comeback it was on the back of some really good serving and it was on us just being a lot more relentless."

Albion (10-1, 0-1 MIAA) received 17 kills from Chloe Webber.

The Flying Dutch return to action on Saturday, Sept. 24, as they travel to Kalamazoo College for a league match at 1 p.m.