CSR (Volleyball Team Ranked 10th in AVCA Division III Top-25 poll)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR August 21, 2007

VOLLEYBALL TEAM RANKED 10th IN AVCA DIVISION III TOP-25 POLL

The Calvin women's volleyball team has been ranked 10th in the pre-season
Division III Top-25 poll released by the American Volleyball Coaches
Association this afternoon.

A year ago, Calvin finished 34-2 and advanced to the Round of 16 of the NCAA
III Tournament for the second straight year. Calvin was bumped out of last
year's NCAA III Tournament by Wittenberg University. Wittenberg is ranked 2nd
in this year's pre-season poll.

Calvin returns four starters and its libero from last year's team.

Calvin is scheduled to face three teams currently in the pre-season Top 25
poll this year. Calvin will face second-ranked Wittenberg on September 15 at
the Wittenberg Border Battle and 15th-ranked Ohio Northern the night before at
the same tournament.

In addition, Calvin will face 16th-ranked Capital University at the Capital
University Tournament next weekend.

Calvin was nationally-ranked for the final 10 weeks of the 2006 season with
its highest ranking 11th in the second-to-last poll of the year. Calvin was
ranked 16th in the final AVCA Division III Top-25 poll of the year.

CALVIN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL 2007 PREVIEW
(1st in a series of 7 pre-season outlooks)

After back-to-back 30-win campaigns, can the Calvin women’s volleyball team
make it three years in a row? The possibilities are there but head coach Amber
Warners is not particularly concerned with whether the Knights do so or not.
“Our team is not concentrating on our overall record this year,” said
Warners who is now ranked fourth among active NCAA Division III coaches in
career winning percentage (.784). “What we are concentrating on is
improvement and getting better as a team. Our record may not end up as high as
last year but we have the potential of becoming a better team.”

Calvin’s 2006 squad compiled a gaudy 34-2 mark which included wins over
nationally-ranked Wittenberg, Capital, Baldwin-Wallace and Central College.
With four starters including a pair of All-Americans returning, the outlook for
the 2007 season appears bright.

Warners however, is approaching the season with cautious optimism. “With the
schedule we have this year, particularly in the month of September, we could
have more losses early on than what we have been used to but I’m not worried
about that,” said Warners. “I think our team has great potential but it
will all come down to playing for each other and playing each match one point
and one game at a time.”

Leading the list of Calvin’s returning players are senior All-Americans
Kristen Kalb (Stow, OH/Stow Munroe Falls HS) and Molly Krikke (Greenwich,
OH/South Central HS). A 5-9 outside hitter, Kalb is a fifth-year senior who was
a first team AVCA Division III All-American in 2006 and was named the MIAA’s
Most Valuable Player. A strong all-around player and a two-time MIAA Player of
the Week in 2006, Kalb is rapidly closing in on Calvin’s career mark for
kills. Heading into her final year in a Calvin uniform, Kalb has 1,406 career
kills. The Calvin career record is 1,556 set by Rhonda Volkers from
1997-to-2000. A year ago, she led the Knights in kills (492) and service aces
(71) and was among the team leaders in digs (432). This past spring, Kalb had
an outstanding track and field campaign in the javelin, advancing to the NCAA
III Outdoor Track and Field Championships and finishing 10th nationally in the
javelin throw.

While Kalb patrols the outside, Krikke patrols in the inside as a 5-11
middle-hitter. Krikke had a break-out year in 2006, earning second team AVCA
Division III All-America accolades as well as a spot on the All-MIAA first
team. A three-time MIAA Player of the Week in 2006, Krikke finished 14th
nationally in hitting percentage (.378) while averaging 4.0 kills and 1.16
blocks-per-game.

Senior setter Katie Zondervan (Lakewood, CA/Central Valley Christian HS) also
returns after a record-breaking 2006 campaign that saw her average 14.13
assists-per-game and receive Honorable Mention AVCA Division III All-America
honors as well as a spot on the All-MIAA first team for the third consecutive
year. Zondervan’s assists-per-game average last fall was not only a Calvin
single-season record but also ranked her third nationally in the final NCAA III
statistics. Zondervan also averaged 3.56 digs a game and collected 23 service
aces. She is the Calvin record holder for most aces in a match with 14 in a
2005 match against Olivet.

The other returning starter is sophomore outside hitter Sara Kramer (Dyer,
IN/Illiana Christian HS) who picked up momentum through the second half of the
2006 season and finished the year with an average of 1.53 kills a game along
with a respectable hitting percentage of .251.

Although not technically a starter because of her position, junior libero
Lauren DeGroot (Tulare, CA/Valley Christian HS) also returns for her third year
in Calvin’s primary defensive role. A member of the All-MIAA second team in
2006, DeGroot also received Honorable Mention Great Lakes All-Region honors
last fall after compiling a team-leading 727 digs and a reception percentage of
.933. DeGroot is also a serving threat. In 2006, she posted 53 service aces and
a serving percentage of .966.

DeGroot leads a strong cast of returning back-row players as junior Stacie
Lippert (St. Louis, Mich./St. Louis HS) and sophomore Kelsey Sears (Traverse
City/Traverse City West HS) are also back for more. Lippert had 288 digs a year
ago while Sears had 407 as Calvin averaged 23.59 digs-per-game as a team,
ranking 13th in the final NCAA III statistics.

Other returning letterwinners include junior outside hitter Jessica Garlick
(Portage/Kalamazoo Christian HS), senior defensive specialist Sarah Ernst (Fort
Wayne, IN/Concordia Lutheran HS) and sophomores Katie Corbett (St.
Joseph/Stevensville-Lakeshore HS), Nora Bruskewitz (Mequon, WI/Milwaukee
Lutheran HS), Rachel DeYoung (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) and KC DeVries
(Churubusco, IN/Concordia Lutheran HS).

Warners is also excited about her incoming class of first-year players. “At
this point I’d like to reserve any comment on individual names but I think we
have 3-to-4 incoming players who will make an impact on our varsity this
fall,” said Warners. “I think the competition for roster spots in our
pre-season camp will be very keen.”

Calvin opens the season on August 31 and September 1 at a tournament hosted by
nationally-ranked Capital University. Calvin will open the tournament against a
Hiram College team that reached the second round of the NCAA III Tournament
last fall.

In addition, Calvin will again participate in the Ohio-Michigan Border Battle
hosted by Wittenberg University September 14 and 15. Calvin will face Ohio
Northern, Baldwin-Wallace, the College of Mount St. Joseph and Wittenberg at
the tournament. All four opponents were nationally-ranked at one point or
another during the 2006 season.

Another challenging non-conference tournament will come Calvin’s way on
October 12 and 13 when the Knights compete at a tournament hosted by Midwest
power Millikin University. “The first three tournaments we play at will be
loaded with top-notch teams,” said Warners. “We’ll be challenged in a big
way but hopefully the competition will make our team better in the long
run.”

Calvin will open defense of its 2006 MIAA title on September 5, traveling to
Alma for a 6:30 p.m. match. The Knights will then host Adrian on September 11,
travel to Tri-State on September 13 and then host rival Hope on September 19.
“There are no easy matches in our opening conference stretch,” said
Warners. “But to be honest, there really aren’t any easy matches in the
MIAA. I think our league has really improved from top-to-bottom and is now
receiving respect as a league with national caliber teams. I know at one point
of the season last fall, we had three of our teams in the regional rankings and
the performance of our conference at the Wittenberg Border Battle was also very
impressive. Whoever wins the (2007) MIAA title this year will have to really
earn it.”

The MIAA Tournament is scheduled to begin on October 30 and will continue on
November 2 and 3 with the MIAA Tournament semifinals and finals. Calvin has won
the last three MIAA Tournament championships.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Tue Aug 21 15:45:25 2007