November 10, 2005
Calvin Volleyball Team Picks Up NCAA III Tournament Victory over Hiram
SPRINGFIELD, OH * For Calvin College senior Christine Hendricks, there's no place like home. Playing in her home state of Ohio including just an hour-and-a-half away from her hometown of Cincinnati, the senior middle-hitter propelled the Calvin women's volleyball team to a 30-25, 30-25, 30-20 victory over the Terriers of Hiram (28-5) Thursday afternoon in a first round NCAA III Tournament match at Wittenberg University.
Calvin (29-8) will face either Capital University (OH) or Millikin University (IL) in a second round match Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Wittenberg.
In the win over Hiram, Hendricks picked up 17 kills, 13 digs, three blocks and compiled a sizzling attack percentage of .405. She was part of a Calvin defense that collected 84 digs and 22 blocks.
The Knights started out slowly, trailing 9-2 in game one but finally took a lead at 23-22 and never trailed again.
In game two, Calvin broke open a 21-20 game with a 6-2 run and held on for the win after Hiram close to within 28-25. In game three, Calvin score the first seven points and led by as many as 11 points at 21-10 to close out the match.
The Calvin victory was a sharp contrast to a September meeting against Hiram which ironically took place at the Wittenberg Invitational. In the September meeting, Hiram claimed a 30-24, 30-28, 30-21 victory over Calvin.
The Calvin team that met Hiram on Thursday however was a much different unit said Calvin head coach Amber Warners. "The first time we played Hiram, they caught us at our lowest point of the season," said Warners. "We were struggling with our rotation and with some injuries but we've made some adjustments since then. Today we played with a completely different lineup, a completely different offense and a completely different defense than the first time we played them."
In addition to Hendricks, Calvin picked up a big defensive effort from sophomore middle-hitter Molly Krikke who hails from nearby Greenwich, Ohio. Krikke collected eight blocks, three digs and six kills for the Knights. Freshman libero Lauren DeGroot (Tulare, CA) led the Knights in the back row with 20 digs while senior Katie Schultz (Escondido, CA) had 15 digs and sophomore setter Katie Zondervan (Lakewood, CCA) 16 digs.
"We had one of our best defensive efforts of the season," said Warners. "Our digging was exceptional. We'll need to continue to play that way if we want to have a chance to win tomorrow."
Calvin junior outside hitter Lorilyn Vogel (Orange City, IA) added 11 kills while Zondervan tossed out 41 assists. Hiram was led in defeat by Shana Toth who collected 13 kills. The Terriers were limited to just a .135 attack percentage against the Calvin defense.
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Thu Nov 10 17:50:41 2005
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