CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR October 21, 2008
Kamp Named AVCA DIII Player of the Week;
Sears and Kamp Also Honored by MIAA;
Volleyball Sweeps Olivet;
Women's Soccer Holds Off Albion
REBECCA KAMP NAMED AVCA DIVISION III PLAYER OF THE WEEK
(written by AVCA Media Relations Staff)
Rebecca Kamp, a freshman middle blocker for then No. 17 Calvin College, has
been named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division III National Player of the Week.
Kamp is from Palos Heights, Illinois. She is a graduate of Chicago Christian
High School.
She earned the honor after leading the Knights to two wins last week,
including an upset of then-No. 12 Hope College.
In Calvin’s first match, a 3-0 win over Saint Mary’s, Kamp put away 18
kills and hit .371, while also picking up four digs and three blocks.
Then in an away match at Hope, which took place in front of an NCAA Division
III regular season single-match record crowd of 2,307 fans,
Kamp hit at a .407 clip while swatting 25 kills and adding nine blocks and
four digs in the 3-2 victory. For the week, Kamp hit .393, while averaging 5.38
kills, 1.0 digs, 1.5 blocks and 6.25 points per set.
This is the second time this season that Kamp has received the Sports
Imports/AVCA Division III National Player of the Week award. She was previously
honored on Sept. 16. This is also the fifth time an athlete from Calvin has
earned the award. The Knights are coached by Amber Warners.
Other individuals from Calvin to receive AVCA Division III Player of the Week
honors include Erika VanStralen (1995), Jill Harkema (1996) and Molly Krikke
(2007).
KAMP/SEARS RECEIVE MIAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
(written by MIAA Publicist Greg Chandler)
ROYAL OAK – The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association has named
Calvin College middle hitter Rebecca Kamp its Player of the Week and Calvin
College libero Kelsey Sears its Specialty Player of the Week in volleyball.
Kamp is receiving MIAA Player of the Week honors for the second time this
year.
Sears (Traverse City/Traverse City West HS) is receiving MIAA Specialty Player
of the Week honors for the second time in her career and for the first time
since 2006.
Sears tallied 49 digs (6.12 per game) in the Knights’ victories over Saint
Mary’s and Hope. She had 32 digs in the five-set victory over the Flying
Dutch, and currently leads all MIAA players in digs at 5.73 per game.
VOLLEYBALL
(Calvin 3, Olivet 2)
By Bruce VanBaren
GRAND RAPIDS -- Carrying momentum from Friday’s upset win at Hope, Calvin
rolled against Olivet in three games Tuesday night 25-13, 25-7 and 26-24.
Calvin remains in second place in the MIAA standings with an 11-2 record and
improves to 17-4 overall.
“We talked in the pregame about how we cannot let whoever we’re facing
affect how we play,” said coach Amber Warners. “I thought with the
exception of a few points in the beginning we really were pretty intense for
not having not a lot of tough (hits) come back at us.”
The 16th ranked Knights opened up a 13-5 run in game one behind Jessica
Garlick’s (Portage/Kalamazoo Christian) four kills. Garlick finished with
five.
Calvin didn’t let up in set two either getting both Rebecca Kamp (Orland
Park, IL/Chicago Christian) and Kim Wigboldy (Chandler, AZ/Chandler Valley
Christian) involved.
Calvin lost focus in set three. After holding a seven point lead most of the
set, Olivet tied the game at 22. The Knights held on and won on one of Kamp’s
set-high three blocks.
“I thought Olivet all of the sudden picked it up in the third set and
started doing better,” said Warners. “We panicked a little bit, but we held
tough.”
“It was good to play steady and to play our game no matter who we are
playing,” said Kamp. “We know that we can’t underestimate any team; we
have to respect every team we play. They showed in the third game that they can
be really scrappy and I give them credit.”
Kamp led the Knights in kills with 12 and blocks. She leads the nation in
kills per set and is in the top ten in hitting percentage. Tuesday afternoon
she was named AVCA DIII Player of the week for her stellar performance against
Hope Friday night in which she amassed 25 kills. A freshman, Kamp received the
award for the second time this season.
“I was kind of surprised,” said Kamp. “It’s really exciting; it’s a
great honor. It’s great to be part of a great team because without the pass
and the set, I couldn’t do anything.”
“I think if anybody watches Becca play they’re impressed by everything she
does- back row and front row,” said Warners. “But the thing I’m most
impressed with is her demeanor on the court in every match.
“To go into a hostile environment like we did last week at Hope and for her
to just dominate, it was really neat to see. She doesn’t come off as a scared
freshman; she comes off as a veteran senior who is going to prove to everybody
that she’s not only good enough to be out there, but can be pretty impressive
too.”
Kamp is one of several underclassmen to consistently contribute to Calvin.
“The neat thing is we have fourteen players out of fourteen players that
really could be in the lineup,” said Warners. “We have a lot of depth and
that’s an asset for us. We’re just trying to get it where we can peak near
the end.”
Wigboldy was second on the team with nine kills, while Renee DeHaan (Grand
Rapids, Grand Rapids Christian) added six kills. Lauren DeGroot (Tulare,
CA/Central Valley Christian) led with a game-high 18 set-assists, while Carolyn
Nelson (Milan/Milan) added 15 set-assists playing in game three. Kelsey Sears
(Traverse City/Traverse City West) had a game-high 18 digs and DeGroot had ten
digs. Calvin as a team had 43 kills to Olivet’s 14 kills.
Calvin will fly to Arizona this weekend for a break from the MIAA schedule.
The Knights will play Southwestern College and Embry-Riddle in Prescott,
Arizona. The Knights return to MIAA action October 29 when they host Albion at
6:30 p.m.
MIAA VOLLEYBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 10-21-08
Hope 11-1
Calvin 11-2
Alma 11-3
Saint Mary’s 7-6
Adrian 7-7
Albion 4-8
Trine 3-9
Kalamazoo 3-9
Olivet 1-13
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Calvin 2, Albion 1
By Chaz Amidon
GRAND RAPIDS - Calvin’s 800-minute defensive scoreless streak came
screeching to a halt in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Albion, but the Knights –
ranked fourth in the most recent Division III Top 25 poll - extended their
league unbeaten streak to 32 games – a stretch dating back to Oct. 2005.
Junior forward Natalie Veurink (Spring Lake/Western Michigan Christian) and
senior midfielder Michelle Koele (Denver, CO/ Denver Christian) each recorded
their third goal of the season to spur the Knights’ offense, which, for the
second straight home game, lacked the synergy present in Calvin’s earlier
MIAA victories.
“We have been scoring early in games, but we’ve only been scoring one or
two goals (per game) and one or two isn’t enough,” said junior Emily
Ottenhoff (Palos Heights, Ill./Chicago Christian), who leads the Knights with
11 goals in 2008. “We need to put a bunch in to take some pressure off our
defense and make it a lot easier for them.”
Veurink’s strike in the fifth minute staked Calvin an early 1-0 lead, as the
junior one-touched a cross from sophomore Carly Prins (Hudsonville/Unity
Christian) to beat Albion goalkeeper Caitlin Bowman.
The Britons responded in the 25th minute with a goal from Rachel Kain, who
fielded a breakaway pass from Ali Oatley and toe-punched a weak-side shot past
Calvin keeper Alyssa Bergsma (Walker/Calvin Christian)
The game-tying goal was the first allowed to a conference opponent since the
Knights’ 13-1 routing of Trine (then known as Tri-State) back on Sept. 22,
2007.
“I would hope that we wouldn’t be too comfortable,” said Koele of the
goal. “I could see where it would happen like that, but really I think it was
a lack of communication. We know that people can score on us and we need to
come out 100 percent.”
Calvin emerged from halftime and controlled possession time for a majority of
the second half until Koele caught Bowman off guard following a Mindy
Capisciolto (Hudsonville/Unity Christian) corner kick in the 59th minute.
After Bowman attempted to punch out Capisciolto’s kick, Koele quickly
trapped the rebound on the weak (right) side and sent the ball whizzing past
the keeper.
“The goal was big, obviously,” said Koele. “We needed it to win. We’ve
been working on getting more goals on corner kicks.”
Calvin out-shot the visiting Britons 21-6 throughout, gaining six corner kick
opportunities compared to only one that Albion had.
The Knights (7-0-0, 12-2-1) will look to preserve its undefeated conference
record an remain atop league standings when they travel to Trine on Saturday,
Oct. 25 to wrap up the MIAA regular season
MIAA WOMEN’S SOCCER STANDINGS THROUGH 10-21-08 GAMES
Calvin 7-0-0 (21 points)
Alma 5-1-0 (15 points)
Hope 5-2-0 (15 points)
Adrian 4-2-1 (13 points)
Albion 3-3-0 (9 points)
Olivet 2-4-0 (6 points)
Kalamazoo 1-4-1 (4 points)
Saint Mary’s 1-5-0 (3 points)
Trine 0-7-0 (0 points)
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Tue Oct 21 23:50:06 2008
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Tue Oct 21 2008 - 23:50:06 EDT