CSR (Volleyball drops five-game thriller to Alma)

From: Jeff Febus (jfebus@calvin.edu)
Date: Wed Oct 09 2002 - 22:28:09 EDT

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    CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2002

    VOLLEYBALL

    A determined Alma effort paid off in the end as the Scots recorded a five-game
    (30-28, 27-30, 26-30, 30-27, 15-13) come-from-behind victory over Calvin
    Wednesday night at the Calvin Fieldhouse to gain firm control of first place in
    the MIAA race.

    With the victory, Alma moved two victories ahead of Calvin and Kalamazoo in the
    MIAA standings as the Scots improved to 8-0 in the MIAA and to 16-6 overall.
    Calvin dipped to 14-6 overall and to 6-2 in the MIAA. The Knights are now tied
    for second place with Kalamazoo. Alma's victory over Calvin Wednesday was
    also important as it would give the Scots a tie-breaker edge over Calvin for
    home-court advantage in the event of a tie for first place between the two
    schools. Alma does not have a tie-breaker edge yet against Kalamazoo but will
    host the Hornets later this month.

    Alma's victory also snapped Calvin's 17-match MIAA win streak at the Calvin
    Fieldhouse as the Scots became the first team since Hope defeated Calvin on
    September 9, 2000, to hand the Knights a conference loss at home.

    Using a dink-and-dunk attack, Alma secured a 30-28 win in game one only to see
    Calvin reverse the momentum in games two and three with the Knights winning
    30-27 and 30-26 to take a 2-1 lead in games.

    In game four, the two teams battled to a 14-14 tie before Alma rolled off a 7-2
    run to take a 21-16 lead. Alma would then build its lead to 27-21 and to 29-22
    before the Knights mounted a comeback effort that just came up short. Calvin
    rolled off five straight points to pull to within 29-27 but a service error
    choked off the comeback and allowed the Scots to hang on for the win.

    In game five, Calvin dug itself an early hole, falling behind 6-0. Calvin
    fought back to within 8-5 but a 3-0 run fueled by a pair of Alma service aces
    put the Scots up 11-5. Calvin countered with five unanswered points to creep to
    within 11-10 but Alma picked up a point to go up 12-10. Calvin then tied the
    game at 12-12, using a kill by sophomore Kara Kuipers (Unity Christian) to tie
    the match. A Calvin service error put Alma up 13-12 with Kuipers coming right
    back with another kill to tie the match at 13-13. Calvin would not score again
    as a hitting error and a subsequent kill by Alma sophomore Kristin Judson
    allowed the Scots to pull out its second five-game win of its 2002 MIAA
    campaign.

    Calvin was led in defeat by senior middle-hitter Melissa Pell (Fremont HS)) who
    tallied 23 kills and five blocks while Kuipers racked up 18 kills, three blocks
    and two aces. Sophomore Kathy Brenneman (North Muskegon HS) was next with 15
    kills and eight digs while senior Cassie Christopher (Fruitport HS) collected 13
    kills, three aces and 23 digs. Also picking up 23 digs for the Knights was
    sophomore Kristin DeGroot (Tulare, CA) while junior Trisha Balkema (Highland,
    IN) led the Knights with 31 digs. Senior setter Laura Tucker (Holland Christian
    HS) added a career-high 71 assists along with 12 digs.

    Kristin Judson led Alma with a superb all-around effort, compiling 21 kills, 22
    digs and four service aces. Megan Cook also picked up 16 kills for the Scots
    while setter Lindsey Baker was credited with 49 assists and 21 digs.

    Both teams finished with eight service aces. Alma was charged with 12 service
    errors while Calvin had 11. Calvin also committed 34 hitting errors and had an
    attack percentage of .173 while Alma had 27 hitting errors and an attack
    percentage of .167.

    Calvin returns to action Friday night when it hosts Olivet at 6:30 p.m. in an
    MIAA match and follows with a non-conference match against Mid-American Nazarene
    immediately following.

    OTHER MIAA VOLLEYBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY NIGHT

    Adrian d. Albion 25-30, 30-25, 30-18, 30-25
    Hope d. Olivet 30-18, 30-10, 30-25
    Kalamazoo d. Saint Mary's 30-13, 30-17, 30-21

    MIAA VOLLEYBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 10-9-02

    Alma 8-0
    Calvin 6-2
    Kalamazoo 6-2
    Adrian 5-3
    Hope 4-4
    Albion 2-6
    Olivet 1-7
    St. Mary's 0-8

    COMING UP THURSDAY

    MIAA Men's Golf Tournament #7 (final league tournament of the year) hosted by
    Hope at Wuskowhan Players Club



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