Calvin College Sweeps Washington University to Win NCAA D3 Title

Match Stats

• Calvin College def. Washington University (St. Louis) 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-21)
• Calvin College Wins D3 National Championship
• Calvin finishes season 33-1, Washington finishes season 27-11
• Kolf Sports Center, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
• Attendance: 516

Calvin College lost their final game entering the NCAA Tournament, in the MIAA Conference tournament against Hope College, but that small blip, their only loss of the 2016 season, did nothing to halt their momentum toward destiny.

On Saturday, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Calvin College won its 3rd women’s volleyball national championship with a 3-0 sweep of Washington University. They won prior titles in 2010 and 2013, and the school has won 11 NCAA titles across all sports in program history. For the Calvin College senior class, this is a book-ending title: they also won as freshmen.

“I’d like to once again congratulate (coach) Vanessa Walby and Washington University for advancing to the finals,” said Calvin head coach Amber Warners. “I’d like to thank the NCAA for putting on a fabulous tournament, Oshkosh for all the work they have done, the AVCA for all of their part of what goes into this championship. I thought that from the very beginning, the coaching staff has tried to have our players believe in themselves as women and as volleyball players and we have worked incredibly hard at that all year.”

“When people ask me how you measure success, I say that when your seniors give absolutely everything and walk away and they can’t give anymore,” said Warners. “I don’t just mean that on the court, people see us about five percent of the time in our season. What these women have given is just unbelievable. I am really proud of the women they are, I was really proud of their fight, we asked them to just green light go and lay it out there and I thought they did that.”

Laura Danhoff was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Championships, even without her best performance in the title game. She had 8 kills, 3 errors on a .208 hitting percentage to go with 3 blocks in the championship game. The team was led offensively instead by Anna Kamp (13 kills, 2.63 average) and Sarah DeVries (10 kills, .333 average) on Saturday. DeVries and junior setter Jenna Lodewyk joined Danhoff on the All-Tournament team.

While the sweep was 3-0, all three of the sets were competitive. Washington was led offensively by Amanda Palucki, who had 11 kills and hit .500 on the day to finish her college career. Her best game of the tournament came at the right moment, but the team overall just didn’t have enough to overcome the indomitable Knights, hitting just .193 as a team.

“Calvin College is a great team. I would say congratulations to them on their win,” said WashU head coach Vanessa Walby. “They blocked really well tonight, and they did a good job of zeroing in on a lot of our key players, but I’m really proud of our girls. They did an amazing job this season, and I think a lot of people underestimated us at the beginning of the season.”

Washington was ranked just 16th in the final regular-season AVCA poll, making the run a real Cinderella story.

Press Releases

Courtesy Calvin College:

OSHKOSH, Wis. – The Calvin volleyball program won its third national title on Saturday night in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The Knights swept Washington University in St. Louis, 25-21, 25-21, 25-21. Calvin has also won a national title in 2010 and 2013. This is the 11th NCAA title in Calvin athletics history.

“I’d like to once again congratulate (coach) Vanessa Walby and Washington University for advancing to the finals,” said head coach Amber Warners. “I’d like to thank the NCAA for putting on a fabulous tournament, Oshkosh for all the work they have done, the AVCA for all of their part of what goes into this championship. I thought that from the very beginning, the coaching staff has tried to have our players believe in themselves as women and as volleyball players and we have worked incredibly hard at that all year.”

This is the second national title for the senior class.

“When people ask me how you measure success, I say that when your seniors give absolutely everything and walk away and they can’t give anymore,” said Warners. “I don’t just mean that on the court, people see us about five percent of the time in our season. What these women have given is just unbelievable. I am really proud of the women they are, I was really proud of their fight, we asked them to just green light go and lay it out there and I thought they did that.”

Laura Danhoff was named the Most Outstanding Player at the championships. Joining her on the All-Tournament Team was Sarah DeVries and Jenna Lodewyk.

“When I was a freshman, Megan Rietema and Kristen Zietse did the same thing,” said Laura Danhoff. “I decided if I could do that is year that would be the icing on the cake. I mean this is great, but these girls and this program, I am forever going to miss this and this program, more than this win. I will remember all the moments with these girls.”

The Knights and Bears tied the match 10 times and would sit tied at 12. Calvin would break the tie with a 3-0 run behind the serve of senior Laura Danhoff (Willard, Ohio/Willard). Calvin would break the set open leading 15-13 with a 6-0 run behind the serve of junior Jenna Lodewyk (Villa Park, Ill./Timothy Christian). Sophomore Anna Kamp (Orland Park, Ill./Chicago Christian) and freshman Sarah DeVries (Grand Rapids, Mich./Northpointe Christian) both had two kills in the run. Calvin would take the set, 25-21. Anna Kamp had five kills in the first set. Junior Kristen Vyletel (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) had six digs in the first set. The Knights hit .278 in the first set.

In the second set, the serve of junior Emily Blankespoor (Grand Rapids, Mich./South Christian) helped Calvin take a 4-1 lead. The Bears would fightback and tie the set at four. The Knights would take the next three points and not give the lead back the rest of the set. Leading 7-5, Calvin would get some separation in the set with a 7-3 run. Laura Danhoff had five kills in the second set.

The Bears would pounce early in the third set and take an early 5-3 lead. Calvin would take the next four points to take the lead back at 7-5. With the set tied at 19, Calvin would jump out to a 22-19 lead with the serve of junior Kristen Vyletel (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron). Calvin would take the set once again at 25-21. Anna Kamp had six kills in the third set and sophomore Keilahna Castillo (Grandville, Mich./Grandville) had seven digs.

Anna Kamp finished with a match-high 13 kills, Sarah DeVries had 10 kills and Laura Danhoff had eight. Jenna Lodewyk finished the night with 35 assists and Keilahna Castillo had 13 digs. Kristen Vyletel finished with 11 digs and a match-high three aces.

The Knights finish the season at 33-1.

Courtesy Washington University:

Oshkosh, Wis., Nov. 19, 2016 – Washington University in St. Louis volleyball’s run to the NCAA Division III National Championship came to a close Saturday evening as the Bears fell to No. 2 Calvin College 3-0 in the Kolf Sports Center.

WashU (27-11) finished the night with many numbers right in line with Calvin (33-1), including a higher total in digs than the Knights with 54-48. The Knights were able to use their height to their advantage and out-blocked the Bears for just the eighth time on the season, 7-6. Calvin boasted a lineup of five Knights 6-feet or taller that saw action.

“Calvin College is a great team. I would say congratulations to them on their win,” said head coach Vanessa Walby. “They blocked really well tonight, and they did a good job of zeroing in on a lot of our key players, but I’m really proud of our girls. They did an amazing job this season, and I think a lot of people underestimated us at the beginning of the season.”

Senior Amanda Palucki finished the night with a .500 hitting percentage, totaling 11 kills to just one error on 20 attempts. Fellow senior Rexi Sheredy was the lone other Bear to reach double-figures in kills with 10 total. The final member of the senior Bear trio, Caroline Dupont, led the team with four blocks including two solo.

“This is the furthest [the seniors] have ever gone, and it shows how special of a team that we had,” added Dupont. “I’m emotional right now, not because we lost, but because of the love I have for this team.”

Calvin 3 – WashU 0 – (25-21, 25-21, 25-21)

The Bears and Knights traded single points back and forth to open the match before back to back kills from sophomores Julianne Malek and Ifeoma Ufondu gave WashU a 4-2 advantage. The Knights followed with three straight points to take the lead before an error tied things up at 5-all. Calvin was first to reach 10 points but senior Dupont knotted things up with a downward spike.

A 3-0 run gave Calvin a 15-12 lead, the first lead larger than two points. The Knights continued to stretch their lead after a media timeout before a Sheredy kill ended the run at 21-14. Sheredy continued with two more kills and a solo block from Dupont brought the Bears within four points causing a Calvin timeout, as WashU trailed 21-17. WashU was unable to close the four-point gap as Calvin took a 1-0 match lead with a 25-21 set one win.

Sheredy led the Bears with six kills while Palucki was successful on three of four attack attempts. WashU and Calvin finished set one with 15 kills a piece as the Bears outhit the Knights with a .314 hitting percentage.

A great dig from freshman Zoe Baxter led to a 1-0 lead for the Bears in the second set. Calvin responded with four straight points before two kills from Palucki and a Knight ball handling error evened things up at 4-all. The Knights worked their way ahead with a 10-5 run. The Bears nearly tied things up after four consecutive points but Calvin scored another 25-21 set win.

Palucki stayed hot in the second set tallying four kills and four digs but nine Bears errors in the second set were too much for WashU to overcome.

Dupont and Palucki opened the third set with a block which gave the Bears their third straight 1-0 lead of the night. Moments later, back to back kills form Malek and Ufondu put the Bears ahead 5-3 but Calvin responded with a 7-1 run. WashU pulled within two points multiple times until a Baxter ace closed the gap to a single point, 16-15. Two points later a solo block from Dupont tied things at 17 but the comeback was not meant to be as Calvin won the final set of the 2016 season 25-21.

“We did take [the underclassmen] under our wing and they were up for the challenge. I have all the confidence in the world for them these next few years, and I’m really excited to see what they’re going to do,” Dupont concluded.

The Bears second place finish is the fifth in program history. Be sure to stay up to date on all your Bears offseason news and accolades by following @WashUBears on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.