Calvin College Outlasts Emory in Four Sets to Capture Volleyball National Title
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St. Louis, Mo., November 22, 2010 – The Calvin College Knights defeated Emory University 3-1 (25-14, 25-20, 19-25, 25-23) to capture the 2010 NCAA Division III volleyball national championship on Monday, Nov. 22, at the Washington University Field House in St. Louis, Mo.
It is Calvin’s first volleyball national title in school history and the school’s ninth national championship overall. Additionally, Calvin becomes the ninth different school in NCAA Division III history to win a volleyball national championship and the first first-time winner since Emory in 2008. Calvin was playing for the national championship for the second time in school history but the first since 1986.
Calvin’s Rebecca Kamp was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2010 Volleyball National Championship, and teammates Megan Rietema and Erin VanderPlas joined her on the All-Tournament Team.
Emory’s Breanah Bourque and Natalie Schonefeld along with Kelly Pang from Washington University in St. Louis and Drew Barnhart from Juniata College rounded out the All-Tournament Team.
A pair of kills from Rebecca Kamp helped Calvin jump out to a 6-2 lead in the first set. Emory responded with a 4-1 run and closed to within one following an Amelia McCall kill. From there Calvin took over, hitting .609 as a team on the way to an 11-point opening set win.
The Knights tallied 14 kills in the first set without a single attack error. Renee DeHaan led the way with five kills on seven swings and VanderPlas contributed four kills. Emory hit just .115 committing six errors with nine kills.
Neither team was able to gain much of an advantage to start the second set until Calvin pulled ahead by three points, 12-9, following back-to-back kills from VanderPlas. Emory bounced right back, tying the frame at 13-13 with an ace from Molly Landers, but that momentum shift was short lived as Calvin continued to come at the Eagles with a balanced front row attack, closing the set with kills from VanderPlas, Rebecca Kamp and Lizzie Kamp.
Emory’s offense ran smoother in the second set, as the Eagles attacked .231 as a team, but they were unable to slow down Calvin, who hit .293 with 16 more kills. Emory was without a block through the first two sets.
The Eagles took their largest lead of any set by recording their first block of the match early the third. Jessica McAlvany and Bourque knocked down a DeHaan attack to make the score 10-6. A service error from Schonefeld allowed Calvin to pull back within three later in the set, but the Knights never closed the gap more than that and Emory forced a fourth set with a 25-19 win.
After strong hitting performances in each of the first two sets, Calvin struggled in the third, hitting just .040 with five kills and four errors. The Knights also committed three serving errors and two ball handling errors. Bourque registered five kills to lead the Emory attack.
A kill from McCall provided Emory with a 12-9 lead in the fourth set before Calvin charged back and pulled ahead 15-14 with a kill from DeHaan. A Kelly Peterson ace put the Knights ahead by three but Emory made one final push to force a tie. A Bourque kill followed by a Rietema ball handling error resulted in a 23-23 tie late in the fourth set but Rietema used her 6-1 frame to her advantage to clinch the win for Calvin.
Rietema sent a long attack over Emory’s block to the far right corner to give the Knights a chance at match point, and came back on the next play with another attack to seal the victory.
VanderPlas (13), DeHaan (12) and Kamp (11) each recorded double-digit kills for Calvin and Rietema finished the match with 37 assists, eight kills, seven digs and four blocks. Bourque led Emory with 16 kills while hitting .333 in the national championship match and Schonefeld compiled 45 assists on her way to all-tournament honors.