How Hope volleyball knocked off No. 1 Wisconsin-Oshkosh in epic five-set battle

Photos: Hope College vs. Adrian women’s volleyball

With a mostly new lineup, the Hope College volleyball team has shown its potential, but also has shown understandable growing pains.

Now, the entire country knows the team's potential.

Hope knocked off No. 1 Wisconsin-Oshkosh in a five-set thriller - so close that three sets went extra points - winning 26-28, 26-24, 22-25, 26-24, 15-12 on Saturday, Oct. 10, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Leading 11-10 in the fifth set, Hope's Kiera Morrison put down a kill. After Oshkosh scored a point, Morrison put down another kill to make it 14-11. Two points later, Morrison again put down a kill, this time on match point, to secure the 15-12 win.

The second set was pivotal for the Flying Dutch, which lost to No. 4 Eau Claire and beat Wisconsin-Superior earlier in the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Tournament.

After losing the first set in extra points, the second set went into extras, too.

Morrison put down a kill to tie it 23-23. Oshkosh's Samantha Perlberg answered with a kill to earn a set point.

One more point for Oshkosh and the ending could have been very different.

But Hope middle hitter Kamryn Burbridge slammed a kill to tie it 24-24, then two attack errors from Oshkosh gave Hope the 26-24 lead - and all the momentum.

Angie Butler finished with 16 kills, while Burbridge had 15, Maddie Ostrander had 11 and Morrison put down 10 to go along with three aces. Burbridge put down eight blocks.

Setter Brooke Hehl dished out 58 assists. Kathryn Oates tallied 25 digs, while Amelia Gagnon had 18 and Hehl and Emma Flick each added 12.

Hope improved to 13-6 and will likely be back in the top 25 rankings next week. Top-ranked Oshkosh dropped to 18-2.

Contact sports editor Dan D'Addona at Dan.D'Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSport s.