CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2006
Women's Volleyball Sweeps Albion - Moves Up in National Rankings;
Men's Soccer Ties Tri-State In Scoreless Match;
Women's Soccer Receives Highest-Ever National Ranking;
Men's And Women's Cross Country Teams Ranked Highly in National Polls
VOLLEYBALL
Calvin 3, Albion 0 (30-15, 30-22, 30-17)
GRAND RAPIDS - The Knights continued their undefeated streak in conference play this evening as they hosted Albion (6-8, 1-6 MIAA). Calvin, now 7-0 in the MIAA and 14-1 overall, won the match in three games, 30-15, 30-22, and 30-17.
Ranked 22nd in the latest AVCA Division III Top 25 poll, The Knights did not win as easily as would be expected, trailing through most of the second game and the beginning of the third game. According to Head Coach Amber Warners, the struggle was due to “unforced errors, like missed serves and hits in the net. It’s good because these are things we can control. But this is a game where the group that makes the least errors will win, and we were making many more errors during that stretch.”
In spite of the errors, Warners was “really proud of how we stuck with it and finally were able to get in our groove.”
The bright spots for Calvin came from middle hitters senior Katy Luimes (Caledonia, ON/Hamilton District Christian) and junior Molly Krikke (Greenwich, OH/South Central), who saw half of Calvin’s 51 kills, fourteen coming from the hands of Krikke and eleven from Luimes. “Katy and Molly did a really nice job of calling for the ball during the transition and were also great on blocking,” Warners said.
Seniors Lorilyn Vogel (Orange City, IA/Unity Christian) contributed nine kills, and Kristen Kalb (Stow, OH/Stow Munroe Falls) had eight. Junior Katie Zondervan (Lakewood, CA/Valley Christian) had 42 assists for Calvin. On defense, freshman Kelsey Sears (Traverse City/Traverse City West) led with eleven digs, while Kalb and sophomore Stacie Lippert (St. Louis, MI/St. Louis) added ten apiece. Krikke collected nine digs.
Calvin will continue conference play this weekend as it meets Kalamazoo and Tri-State on Friday in an MIAA triangular at Kalamazoo. The match against Kalamazoo will begin at 4:00 p.m. with a second match against Tri-State set to start at 6:00 p.m.
MIAA VOLLEYBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 9-26-06
Calvin 7-0
Hope 5-1
Adrian 4-2
St. Mary’s 4-2
Tri-State 3-4
Kalamazoo 2-3
Alma 2-4
Albion 1-6
Olivet 0-6
MEN’S SOCCER
Calvin 0, Tri-State 0 (2 OT)
GRAND RAPIDS - Calvin battled visiting Tri-State to a scoreless double-overtime draw on Tuesday afternoon to move to 3-4-2 on the season including 1-1-1 in the MIAA.
Neither team was able to generate much offense in the first half but in the second half, both teams began to heat up.
Tri-State came close with just under 12 minutes left in regulation when Kelly Keefer fired a pair of point-blank shots that Calvin junior goalkeeper Matt Gardner (Worthington, OH) was able to snare. Two minutes later, Keefer nearly scored again, hitting the right goalpost with a rocket shot from the left wing.
Calvin then stepped up the pace and nearly converted with five minutes remaining when freshman Luke Holtrop (Unity Christian HS) received a bouncing pass in the slot and nearly buried the go-ahead goal but Tri-State goalkeeper Adam Franczak was able to come up with a sliding save.
In the first overtime, Gardner came up with a glorious save, robbing Tri-State’s Scott Blasey on a header off a corner kick that appeared destined for the back of the net until Gardner was able to leap back and snare the shot just shy of the goal-line.
In overtime number-two, Calvin had four shots and two corner kicks but could not come up with a game-winner.
Calvin finished the match with an 18-10 shots at goal advantage. Gardner had seven saves for Calvin while Franczak had five saves for the visiting Thunder (2-6-1 overall, 1-1-1 MIAA).
Calvin will now prepare for a night contest on Friday when it journeys to Adrian for a game set to begin at 6:00 p.m. at the Adrian Performance Stadium.
MIAA MEN’S SOCCER STANDINGS THROUGH 9-26-06
Albion 3-0-0
Adrian 2-1-0
Hope 2-1-0
Calvin 1-1-1
Tri-State 1-1-1
Kalamazoo 1-2-1
Olivet 1-2-0
Alma 0-3-0
WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM NATIONALLY-RANKED
The Calvin women’s soccer team has received its highest-ever national ranking as the Knights have moved up to number-six in the D3kicks.com Top-25 poll. The Knights are also ranked number-seven in the NSCAA Division III Top-25 poll.
Calvin’s previous best national ranking was seventh in the final 1997 NSCAA Division III Top 25 poll.
The D3kicks.com Top-25 poll can be found at: http://www.d3kicks.com/top25.php while the National Soccer Coaches Association of American Top-25 poll can be found at: http://www.nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=203
Under the direction of head coach Mark Recker, the Calvin women’s soccer team (9-0-0) returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts the Britons of Albion at 4:00 p.m.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL TEAM MOVES UP TWO SPOTS IN NATIONAL POLL
The Calvin women’s volleyball team has moved up two spots in the national rankings as the Knights are ranked 22nd in this week’s American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 poll. Under the direction of head coach Amber Warners, the Knights have moved out to a 14-1 overall record.
The complete AVCA Division III Top 25 poll can be found at: http://www.avca.org/collegiate/DIIIpoll/DIIIpoll9-26-06.asp
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS
The Calvin men’s and women’s cross country teams continue to hold high national rankings. For the second consecutive poll, the Calvin men are ranked number-one. The Knights received all eight first place votes in this week’s Division III Coaches’ poll. Wisconsin-LaCrosse has moved into second place on the men’s side.
In the women’s poll, Calvin has moved up six spots from last week as the Knights are ranked eighth in this week’s poll, up six spots from last week when they were ranked 14th. Geneseo State of New York is again the top-ranked team in the country.
Both polls can be found at: http://ustfccca.cstv.com/sports/division3/ustca-division3-body.html
The Calvin men’s and women’s cross country team are led by head coach Brian Diemer and will return to action on Friday when they compete at the prestigious Notre Dame Invitational. A group of Calvin runners will also compete at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational on Saturday.
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Tue Sep 26 22:47:04 2006
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