CSR (Calvin Sports Report for November 3, 2007

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 3, 2007

Women's Volleyball Captures MIAA Tournament Title and NCAA Bid;
Women's Soccer Captures MIAA Title And Bid to NCAAs;
Men's Soccer Closes out MIAA Campaign With Win - NCAAs Next
Swimming & Diving Teams Split At Albion

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Calvin 3, Hope 0 (30-22, 30-19, 30-

For the fourth consecutive year, the Knights of Calvin College are the MIAA
Tournament volleyball champions, and, for the fourth consecutive year, the
Knights are also headed back to the NCAA III Tournament.

Ranked 16th nationally, Calvin (29-4) punched its NCAA III Tournament ticket
on Saturday with a 30-22, 30-19, 30-23 victory over rival Hope in the finals of
the MIAA Tournament Saturday afternoon at the Calvin Fieldhouse.

With the win, Calvin claimed its sixth MIAA Tournament title overall. The
Knights are now 6-2 all-time in MIAA Tournament finals including 5-1 against
Hope. Calvin will be making its four straight trip to the NCAA III Tournament
including its 17th overall.

Seniors Kristen Kalb (Stow, OH), Molly Krikke (Greenwich, OH) and Katie
Zondervan (Lakewood, CA) led an inspired Calvin performance on Saturday with
Kalb collecting 20 kills, Krikke 19 kills and Zondervan 44 assists and 10 digs.
Kalb hit a blistering .462 on the afternoon while Krikke hit .366. As a team,
Calvin hit for a season-high .324 in the win. Junior libero Lauren DeGroot
(Tulare, CA) also had 15 digs while sophomore Sara Kramer (Dyer, ON) had seven
blocks including two solos. Zondervan, junior Jessica Garlick (Kalamazoo
Christian HS) and Krikke all had three blocks apiece. As a team, Calvin
finished with 18 blocks and 57 digs as it limited Hope (24-9) to a .141 hitting
percentage.

"We had a great team performance today," said Calvin women's volleyball coach
Amber Warners. "Since last weekend, we have really stepped up our play and I
think we are starting to peak. Our seniors in particular really came through
this afternoon. They wanted this win very badly."

Calvin will await the announcement of the NCAA III Tournament field, scheduled
to be released on Monday morning.

WOMEN’S SOCCER
Calvin 0, Albion 0 (2 OT)
(Written by Bruce VanBaren ’09)

Calvin fell 3-2 to Albion in a shootout in the MIAA tournament championship
game, but in doing so captured enough points to win its third straight league
title and advances to the NCAA tournament for the third straight year as well.

“The bottom line is we were glad that we protected what our advantage was
[toward the regular season title],” Coach Mark Recker said. “[We] would
have loved to have the tournament championship too, but as it is it’s a
tribute to Albion they played a hard game.”

Heading into the tournament championship, Calvin sat eight points ahead of
second place Albion, but needed a win or tie to capture the league title as the
tournament title game was worth nine points toward the regular season
standings. By forcing a shootout, Calvin was guaranteed at least one-third of
the points based on league rules that give the loser of the shootout three
points and the winner six points.

“It put a lot of pressure on us with the way we’ve arranged the
tournament,” Recker said. “The risk was more for us than it was for Albion;
they had nothing to lose.”

Carly Prins (Hudsonville/ Unity Christian) scored the first shot of the
penalty kick shootout, but Calvin hit two posts on its next two shots with an
opportunity to stay ahead. Goal keeper Alyssa Bergsma (Walker/ Calvin
Christian) kept the Knights in it saving Albion’s first two penalty kicks
that were kicked right at her. However, on the third penalty kick, with Calvin
up 1-0, she was frozen by an excellent shot to the corner by Albion’s Katie
Mills who had been outstanding for the Britons all game.

In the fourth round of the shootout, Allison Boender (Grandville/Calvin
Christian) matched Mills’ shot to put Calvin up 2-1, but Lisa Dorr tied it up
immediately after that for the Britons. Both Calvin and Albion missed off of
the post and crossbar respectively in round five. Albion goal keeper Catlin
Bowman picked up her first save of the shootout in the sixth round and Sarah
Christian made good on her opportunity to win the tournament title for the
Britons with a nice shot to the upper ninety.

“We had control early of the [shootout] and let it slip off,” Recker said.
“The last shot was a good save [by the Albion keeper].”

Calvin is now 0-3 in shootouts in the past three years, falling to Ohio
Wesleyan in the first round of the 2005 NCAA tournament and losing to national
runner up Messiah College in the NCAA quarterfinals a year ago.

“You always like to end your season on a positive note and the positive note
was that we had a very young club that played very hard through the whole
season,” Recker said.

Calvin had by far its most difficult game in the league this season as they
had gone a perfect 10-0-0 in the regular season and beat Olivet 3-1 in the
first round of the MIAA tournament and defeated Hope 5-1 in the MIAA tournament
semi-final game. Calvin had only one overtime game this season prior to this
afternoon’s game against Albion and that was a 1-0 win at Kalamazoo.

First half play was by no means lopsided, but the Knights did hold an 8-2
shots at goal advantage in the first half. Calvin had a goal negated after a
late whistle on Natalie Veurink (Spring Lake/ Western Michigan Christian) who
fed Prins with a cross for an easy goal. Calvin had several other chances, but
was unable to convert as the game remained scoreless through the first half of
play. Bergsma recorded only one save in the first half.

“We’ve been a very young squad that has had a number of opportunities
throughout the season in front of the net and not only efficiently managing our
opportunities,” Recker said. “That’s part of a growing squad we’re
learning how to finish and play under pressure and this was a huge under
pressure kind of performance today.”

Calvin’s best chance of the second half came in the 53rd minute when Prins
had an open shot saved and a header blocked in front of an open goal. Albion
really had only one dangerous scoring chance in regulation and that came with
12 minutes remaining when striker Ali Oatley got past a Calvin defender, but
goal keeper Kayla Sulzer (St. Charles, MO/ Whitfield) came up with her only
save of the second half.

“They had the energy and kept that energy for a large part of the game and
we just missed our opportunities,” Recker said. “They were committed to a
high energy level defensive game and they rely on their goal keeper who is a
very good goalkeeper.” Bowman totaled nine saves and two in the shootout for
the Britons.

Calvin, needing only a tie to secure the league title, came out more defensive
in the overtime periods.

“You play for avoiding a defensive lapse,” Recker said. “Was there any
advantage to us throwing numbers forward and then losing the game because we
were out of position? No, then we lose both the championship of the league and
the tournament. Did we want to win? Yes, we were going to attack with the two
or three that we’re keeping high and wait for [Albion] to make mistakes.”

As a result, Albion had several scoring chances in the extra periods. The most
dangerous of those came right before the end of the second overtime when
Juliana Litts (Alexandria, VA/ Thomas Jefferson) blocked a Chelsea Grey shot
off a would-be corner kick assist for the Britons.

“You rely on your upperclassman to get you through [the season],” Recker
said. “[Litts] knows what to do in pressure situations; she’s bright in
that regard.”

Recker also had praise for sweeper Ashley Bolen (Urbana, IL/ Urbana). “Bolen
has been tough all season long basically saying no to any penetration and shots
on frame. I thought her several last minute toe pokes that cleared balls away
from strikers were critical through the end of the game.”

Calvin posted a 22-7 shots at goal advantage prior to the shootout, but was
unable to capitalize through 120 minutes of play.

 “When you look at the overall play I thought we were a little off in terms
of the rhythm together as a team,” Recker said. “Apart from that I was
really proud that they hung in there and kept fighting and fighting. We’ve
been doing that all season and you have to give credit to your defense for
maintaining the shutout.”

The MIAA title was Calvin’s sixth overall including its third straight. The
seeding for the NCAA tournament will be announced Monday.

FINAL MIAA WOMEN’S SOCCER STANDINGS
Calvin 10-0-1 (39 points)
Albion 7-2-2 (31 points)
Kalamazoo 6-3-1 (19 points)
Hope 6-3-1 (19 points)
Saint Mary’s 3-4-2 (11 points)
Alma 3-5-1 (10 points)
Adrian 2-7-0 (6 points)
Olivet 1-6-2 (5 points)
Tri-State 0-8-0 (0 points)

MEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 2, Tri-State 1

ANGOLA, IN -- Calvin closed its regular season with a 2-1 victory at Tri-State
Saturday afternoon. The Knights are 14-4-2 overall and finish the MIAA season
12-1-1. Calvin clinched the MIAA title on Wednesday with a win over Adrian.

Since opening the year with a 1-3-1 record, Calvin has posted a 13-1-1 mark.
As MIAA champions, the Knights have received an automatic bid to next week's
NCAA III Tournament. The tournament field will be unveiled at 11:00 a.m. on
Monday morning on the NCAAsports.com web site.

In its win over Tri-State (2-15-2 overall, 2-10-2 MIAA), Calvin took a 1-0
halftime lead on a goal by freshman Scott Hooker (Unity Christian HS) as he was
able to redirect a corner kick from senior Jared Litty (Hudsonville HS) into
the net for his ninth goal of the year. The Knights then took a 2-0 lead on a
goal by senior Nick Capisciolto (Unity Christian HS) in the 54th minute of play
with sophomore Michael Holwerda (Grand Rapids Christian HS) drawing an assist
on the play. The goal was also the ninth of the year for Capisciolto.

Tri-State sliced the deficit in half on a goal by Van Mang in the 62nd minute
of play but the Knights were able to hold on down the stretch to seal the win.

Calvin finished the game with a 20-12 shots at goal advantage. Junior Darrin
Cline (Grandville HS) had six saves in the win for the Knights.

OTHER MIAA MEN’S SOCCER SCORES ON SATURDAY
Olivet 3, Adrian 0
Alma 1, Albion 0
Hope 3, Kalamazoo 1

FINAL 2007 MEN’S SOCCER STANDINGS

Calvin 12-1-1
Hope 10-3-1
Kalamazoo 9-4-1
Albion 7-6-1
Olivet 5-9-0
Alma 4-9-1
Adrian 3-10-1
Tri-State 2-10-2

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING

ALBION – The Calvin men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened
their dual meet seasons with conference dual meets at Albion on Saturday. In
the women’s meet, Calvin cruised to a 185-100 victory. In the men’s meet,
Albion edged Calvin 150-146.

Calvin had two big highlights in the women’s meet as junior Erica Deur of
Holland Christian High School shattered her own school records in the one-meter
(286.50) and three-meter (290.20) diving competitions while sophomore Maggie
Vail (Portage Northern HS) established a new Albion pool record in winning the
100 breaststroke in a time of 1:09.12. Both of Deur’s diving marks were NCAA
III qualifying scores. Her previous one-meter record was 261.4 while her
previous three-meter record was 281.55.

The Calvin women picked up victories in 12 events. Calvin was also led by
sophomore Emily Roberts (Dekalb, IL) who won the 100 butterfly (1:02.22) and
200 butterfly (2:17.81) events.

Other individual winners for the Calvin women included freshman Lindsay
Huizenga (Rockford HS) in the 1,000 freestyle (11:24.75), junior Cara
VanWoerkom (Calvin Christian HS) in the 200 freestyle (2:00.78) and 100
freestyle (55.48), freshman Monica Bressler (Sandusky, OH) in the 100
backstroke (1:04.26), Vail in the 100 breaststroke, sophomore Laura Price
(Warren, PA) in the 50 freestyle (25.98) and 500 freestyle (5:26.19) and
freshman Caitlyn Alexander (Holland Christian HS) in the 200 backstroke
(2:17.76). Calvin’s 200 medley relay team of freshman Brianna Vanden Ende
(Huntsville, ON) Vail, senior Stephanie Duncan (Long Grove, IL) and freshman
Kendra Kinzer (Fort Wayne, IN) also won with a time of 1:58.05.

In the men’s competition, Calvin took first place in eight events. Senior
Joe Gluvers (Rocklin, CA) grabbed three of the first place berths for the
Knights, winning the 100 backstroke (57.83), 200 backstroke (2:10.65) and 200
IM (2:09.43).

Senior Keith Conrad (Wheaton, IL) was also a triple-winner, taking the gold in
the 1,000 freestyle (10:12.69), 100 butterfly (56.10) and 200 butterfly
(2:06.81).

Other winners for the Knights included senior John Boumgarden (Naperville, IL)
in the 200 freestyle (1:52.74) and Calvin’s 200 medley relay team of freshman
Tyler Westman (Naperville, IL), senior Lucas Seebeck (Grand Rapids Christian
HS), Conrad and sophomore Jon Herrema (Grand Rapids Christian HS).

Both teams return to action next Saturday when they compete in a quadrangular
at Eastern Michigan University with Olivet, Denison and Wayne State
University.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Nov 3 21:14:58 2007