CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 29, 2008
Men’s Basketball Advances to MIAA Tournament Championship Game – Will Face Hope
in Final;
Women’s Tennis Team Remains Unbeaten With Win at Ferris State
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 75, Albion 58
(written by Bruce VanBaren ’09)
HOLLAND-Calvin picked up its second-straight double-digit win, defeating Albion
in the early MIAA tournament semi-final game Friday night at the DeVos
Fieldhouse. The win snapped a 13-game Albion win streak, dating back to January
16 and included the Britons’ regular series sweep of Calvin.
Calvin will face Hope in the championship game. Hope defeated Adrian 83-64 in
Friday’s second semifinal contest.
The Knights advance to their fifth straight MIAA championship game and third
straight against Hope College. Calvin defeated Hope a year ago and fell to the
Dutchmen in 2006. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 at the DeVos
Fieldhouse.
“These past two games there’s not too much to complain about,” said Calvin
coach Kevin Vande Streek. “We played really hard, certainly not perfect, but
when you play hard you make up for a lot of other things. The more we move
without the ball, the more shot opportunities we create.”
Albion started out cold hitting just 4 of their first 22 shots and found
themselves down by 13 after a Matt Veltema (Grandville/ Calvin Christian)
three-pointer with 7:22 remaining in the first half. Albion also struggled from
the three-point line hitting just 3 of 17 shots from beyond the arc and were
out-rebounded 41-34.
“It’s all about defense and rebounding and we stepped that up tonight,” said
Veltema who had a season high 12 points. Veltema hit two three pointers in the
first five minutes of play and had ten points in the first half.
“Matt isn’t the kind of player who can create his own shot,” said Vande Streek.
“But when we move the ball he gets to be the beneficiary. [Defensively,] he’s a
guy who blocks out a lot, but doesn’t get the ball. Five rebounds for him is
also really good.”
After his career-high 35 points in Wednesday night’s first-round win over
Olivet, senior Derek Griffin (Whitehall/ Muskegon CC) again led Calvin with 16
points as five Knights scored in double figures. John Mantel (Chelsea/ Chelsea)
had 15, his 12th double-figure scoring effort of the year. Caleb Veldhouse
(Sioux Falls, SD/ Sioux Falls Christian) had 12 points and Josh Engelsma
(Hudsonville/ Covenant Christian) had ten points.
Engelsma’s six points in the first seven minutes ignited Calvin as the Knights
jumped out to a 13-4 lead. Calvin never trailed and led by as many as 20 points
after a Veldhouse three-point play with 13 minutes to play. Calvin held Albion
to ten points under its season scoring average as the Britons shot 39% on the
night.
“To take them out of that rhythm has to be credited to our defense,” said Vande
Streek. “We did a nice job taking away the high ball screen and then they’re
looking to other things.
The Knights had an answer to every hint of an Albion comeback. The Britons
closed to within six points with six minutes to play in the first half, but a
Veltema three-pointer ended the 7-0 Albion run. Albion cut Calvin’s largest
lead of 20 points to just 11 with nine minutes remaining in the second half.
But the Britons turned it over twice and missed a pair of free throws and
Calvin never looked back.
“We didn’t play our way and a lot of that should be attributed to Calvin,” said
Albion coach Mike Turner. “We’ve won 13 straight games playing our way. We had
flashes of that in the second half, but none in the first half. We probably
should attribute a lot, if not all of that, to Calvin.”
The Britons had defeated Calvin twice in the regular season. Albion beat Calvin
73-68 in the first meeting at the Fieldhouse and came away with a thrilling
56-55 victory at Albion on a buzzer-beater.
“We played Calvin twice and they didn’t score like [they did tonight],” said
Turner. “Points have come hard for us this year, but they came unbelievably
hard tonight. We didn’t play our way. Our way is to defend a lot better then
what we did.”
Calvin shot 54.8% against Albion who had the 18th best defensive field goal
percentage in the nation. The Knights went 4 of 9 from three-point range in the
first half, but only 1 of 8 in the second. Calvin was a perfect 6 of 6 in the
first half from the free throw line and hit 12 of 19 from the charity stripe in
the second half.
“When we play well we’re a really good team,” said Vande Streek.
TICKET INFORMATION FOR MIAA TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Tickets will be on sale at the Calvin Box Office on Saturday, February 24 from
9:00am to 12:00pm while supplies last. Each person is limited to purchasing a
maximum of 4 tickets. If available, tickets will also be sold at the DeVos
Fieldhouse door.
Calvin students can get 1 FREE ticket per student ID, with a maximum of 4
student ID’s per person until 11:00am on Saturday, after which time tickets
will be $2.00 while supplies last. Once Calvin’s allotment of free student
tickets run out students may purchase a General Admission ticket for $2.00
while supplies last.
Ticket Prices:
Reserved tickets are $7.00. A limited number of General Admission tickets are
FREE for MIAA students. General Admission tickets are $2.00 for any college
faculty/staff and students, High School students and children, and $5.00 for
all others. Tickets must be paid by either cash or check.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Calvin 6, Ferris State 3
BIG RAPIDS – Calvin upped its season record to 2-0 with a 6-3 victory at
Division II Ferris State University on Friday afternoon at the Ferris State
Racquet and Fitness Club. Calvin took the opening momentum by taking two of the
three doubles points with freshman Kaitlin Spoelhof (Holland Christian HS) and
sophomore Jill VanVeen (Grand Rapids Christian HS) winning at No. 2 doubles and
sophomores Elizabeth Geenen (Holland Christian HS) and Rachel Strikwerda
(Holland Christian HS) winning at No. 3 doubles.
Calvin also took four of six singles points with freshman Melissa Oosterhouse
(Grand Rapids Christian HS) winning at No. 1 singles, Geenen winning at No. 3
singles, freshman Michelle Busscher (Western Michigan Christian HS) winning at
No. 5 singles and VanVeen winning at No. 6 singles.
Calvin will now break until March 10 when it faces Ramapo College of New Jersey
and Connecticut College on its spring trip to Orlando, Florida.
Tennis Match Results
Calvin 6, Ferris State 3
Singles competition
1. Melissa Oosterhouse (CALVINW) def. Amy Ingle (FS) 7-5, 6-4
2. Ann Grant (FS) def. Kaitlin Spoelhof (CALVINW) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
3. Elisabeth Geenen (CALVINW) def. Daniela Dimas (FS) 6-0, 6-3
4. Jessie Conklin (FS) def. Rachel Strikwerda (CALVINW) 6-1, 6-4
5. Michelle Busscher (CALVINW) def. Sarah Thompson (FS) 6-1, 6-3
6. Jill VanVeen (CALVINW) def. Kim Dubbeld (FS) 6-0, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Amy Ingle/Ann Grant (FS) def. Melissa Oosterhouse/Rachel Strikwerda
(CALVINW) 8-2
2. Kaitlin Spoelhof/Jill VanVeen (CALVINW) def. Daniela Dimas/Jessie Conklin
(FS) 8-3
3. Elisabeth Geenen/Rachel DeGroot (CALVINW) def. Kim Dubbeld/Emily Henry (FS)
8-5
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Fri Feb 29 22:00:02 2008
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