GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The fourth-seeded and No. 17-ranked UW-Stevens Point volleyball team saw its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament showing come to an end with a 26-24, 25-12, 25-18 loss to top-seeded and fourth-ranked Calvin on Friday evening at Van Noord Arena.
 
Box Score
 
UW-Stevens Point (27-9) held two set points in the first set but Calvin (30-3) battled back to take the set and went on to record its 59th victory in its last 60 home matches since 2012. Calvin will advance to face Carthage in the regional championship match on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. ET.
 
The Pointers were making their eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and now are 10-8 all-time. The NCAA Tournament berth was Calvin's 26th and the Knights improve to 44-24 all-time in the tournament.
 
Emma Brunkhorst (Germantown, WI/Germantown) led UW-Stevens Point with eight kills and three block assists, while Gabby Thomas (Henderson, MN/LeSueur-Henderson) and Kelly Cefalu (Waunakee, WI/Waunakee) each had six kills. Brittany Laffin (Carpentersville, IL/Hampshire) recorded 19 assists and Hannah Picel (West Bend, WI/West) and Marie Krengel (Eagan, MN/Eastview) finished with 16 and 14 digs, respectively.
 
Maggie Kamp had a match-high 14 kills for Calvin but the Pointers held the reigning Division III Player of the Year, who was hitting .279 entering the match, to an attack percentage of .068. Laura Danhoff added nine kills and hit .444 for the Knights. Jenna Lodewyk handed out 37 assists and Keilahna Castillo registered a match-high 18 digs.
 
UW-Stevens Point led the first set 24-22 after a kill by Cefalu but Calvin won the final four points of the set to take it 26-24. The Pointers trailed 5-3 early but took a 6-5 lead and led for the majority of the set. UW-Stevens Point's 18-15 advantage was the largest lead of the set but Calvin erased it and went ahead 21-19 with a 6-1 run. The Pointers came right back with a 5-1 run of their own before the late run by the Knights. The teams were tied on 11 occasions in the opening set.
 
The Knights continued the momentum from the first set early in the second, taking an early 5-2 lead. The Pointers rallied to tie the set at 8-8 only for Calvin to go on a 4-1 run to lead 12-9. After the 8-8 tie, Calvin won 17 of the final 21 points to take a two-set-to-one lead. The Knights hit .200 in the second and held the Pointers to a -.032 clip.
 
In the third, neither team led by more than two points until Calvin took a 13-10 lead. The Knights stretched their lead as part of an 8-2 run after the score was tied at 10-10. After Calvin led 24-15, the Pointers saved three match points on a kill by Brunkhorst and two blocks by Brunkhorst and Krengel before the Knights closed it out on a kill by Rachel Lubben.
 
For the match, Calvin hit .227, compared to .047 for UW-Stevens Point. The Knights also had seven aces and nine service errors.
 
The match was the final match for seniors Brunkhorst and Picel, who finished their careers with a 124-28 record (.816) in four seasons. The duo were part of four NCAA Tournament teams, including national semifinal appearances in 2013 and 2014, and won two Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) regular season and three tournament titles.

Brunkhorst played in 398 sets in 122 matches in her four-year career and totaled 1,257 kills,130 digs and 451 blocks, including 76 solo blocks. Brunkhorst's 1,257 kills stand third all-time at UW-Stevens Point, while her 451 total blocks rank fourth in program history. Her 496 kills in 2013 and 418 kills in 2014 are two of the top-five single-season totals in the UWSP record book. Brunkhorst is one of six Pointers to ever record 1,000 career kills. Brunkhorst was a two-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American, a two-time All-WIAC pick and a two-time AVCA All-Region performer.

Picel played in 146 of 152 matches and a total of 515 sets in four seasons at UW-Stevens Point. She finishes her career as the program's all-time leader in career digs (2,503) and also recorded 301 assists and 76 aces. Picel holds four of the top-seven single-season dig totals in program history. She is one of just four WIAC players to surpass the 2,500 career digs milestone, as her total sits fourth in conference history. Picel was the first-ever four-time member of the WIAC All-Defensive Team and was a First Team All-WIAC pick and an honorable mention all-region selection this year. She was also the 2012 AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year and an honorable mention all-conference choice in 2014.