Box Score ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst volleyball team's 2013 season came to a close after the Bluejays fell to second-ranked Hope College in four sets in the NCAA regional championship match.

Hope (32-2) earned a trip to the national quarterfinals with a 24-26, 25-20, 25-14, 25-15 win over the Bluejays.

Elmhurst took the opening set 26-24 after the two teams went back-and-forth throughout the set. Elmhurst opened up an early 12-9 lead, but Hope answered back, winning 11 of the next 14 points to take a 20-15 lad. Hope led 23-20, but back-to-back kills from Marci Novak and an error on Hope evened the set at 23-all and forced Hope to call a timeout. A kill from Anna Lynch gave Hope a set point, but the Flying Dutch's serve went into the net to knot the score at 24-24. Back-to-back kills from Sam Szarmach handed the Bluejays the set with a 26-24 score.

Hope started quickly in the second set, racing out to an 11-4 advantage. Elmhurst pulled to within three points at 17-14, but the Flying Dutch won the next three points to take a 20-14 lead. Elmhurst clawed its way to within three points at 23-20, but back-to-back errors on the Bluejays gave Hope the set.

Elmhurst scored the first two points of the third set, before Hope rattled off an 8-1 run to grab an 8-3 lead. The Flying Dutch quickly extended their lead to 11 points at 17-6 and traded points with the Bluejays for the rest of the set to take the set 25-14.

Hope scored four of the first five points in the fourth set while building a quick cushion. Hope opened up a 12-6 lead, before the Bluejays used a 5-1 run to close to 13-11. Leading 14-12, Hope closed the set on an 11-3 run to put away the match.

Elmhurst finished the match hitting .107 with 39 kills and 24 errors in 140 attempts. Hope hit .243 with 54 kills and 18 errors in 148 swings.

Szarmach and Novak finished with eight kills apiece for the Bluejays. Novak added 18 digs for the Bluejays while Szarmach recorded two blocks. Jackie Pavilonis added seven kills for Elmhurst while Megan Reynolds totaled six kills and five blocks. Kaitlyn Wilks added five kills for the Bluejays. Szarmach and Novak were named to the all-tournament team for their play over the three days of the regional.

Hope was led by tournament MVP Jenna Grasmeyer. Grasmeyer pounded down 18 kills and totaled 13 digs to lead the Flying Dutch. Mari Schoolmaster added 12 kills an seven digs. Lauren Hazekamp totaled 45 assists and 15 digs.

"Hope did a great job of shutting our offense down," said Head Coach Julie Hall. "They were the better team tonight. I was proud that we never gave up. We didn't play the way we normally play, but they chased down balls and gave it everything they had."

The Bluejays will say goodbye to six seniors this year, including four all-conference players and three all-region honorees.

"This has been my favorite team, I've ever coached," said Hall. "There's a lot of great personalties and they all bring something different to the table. They're going to be hard to replace; not just the talent, but it will be hard to replace what they brought to Elmhurst College and that's a sense of pride, a sense of work and and the fun that they had together."

The Bluejays closed out the season with a 37-5 overall record and won their second consecutive CCIW Championship.