CSR (Calvin Saturday Sports Report For January 9, 2010)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR JAN. 9, 2010
 
Men's Basketball Defeats Olivet;
Women's Basketball Defeats Trine;
Swimming and Diving Teams Defeat Olivet in Dual Meets
 
MEN'S BASKETBALL
(written by student assistant Mitch Blankespoor)
 
Looking to build off of a big win vs. rival Hope earlier this week, Calvin
took on Olivet Saturday at VanNoord Arena January 10th. Calvin(7-6, 2-0MIAA)
defeated Olivet(5-8, 0-2MIAA) 65-61. The victory lifts Calvin over the .500
mark for the first time this year and keeps the Knights in a share of first
place in the MIAA standings.
 
Calvin started out with a great pass from senior John Mantel to junior Danny
Rodts for an easy layup. That was the only field goal either team would get
for three minutes. The Comets would then go on an 8-0 run led by the shooting
of Andre Evans.
 
“The first 10 minutes were not very good. It’s tough to come out after a big
win” Calvin head coach Kevin VandeStreek said on his post-game show on WFUR
radio. Calvin worked to chip away at the Olivet lead, which was 13 with 7
minutes left to go in the first half. Olivet led 31-26 at half. The Comets
were led in scoring at the half by Michael McClary with 11 points. Calvin’s
leading scorer was John Mantel with nine points at the half.
 
The Knights came out firing in the 2nd half. John Mantel scored the first
five points of the half to extinguish Olivet’s lead. Olivet was forced to call
timeout to stop a 9-2 Knight run. Calvin led by as many as 10 with 14 minutes
to go in the game.
 
Then Olivet began to claw back into the game. Calvin saw its lead drop to 5
points with 5 minutes to go left in the game. Olivet the put on the press, and
Calvin began to turn the ball over. Then Brent Schuster, a junior forward from
Denver Christian, fouled out of the game. Olivet’s Joe Post hit two free
throws to cut Calvin’s lead to 63-61 but Danny Rodts of Calvin was soon fouled
and hit a pair of free throws to seal the win.
 
Olivet’s Michael McClary led all scorers with 24 points. John Mantel finished
with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Calvin. Mantel’s performance marked his
12th collegiate double-double. In scoring 16 points, he also moved past Kevin
Broene and into 16th place on the Calvin career scoring list, building his
career total to 1,055 points.
 
The Comets shot 37% as a team. The Knights shot 35%, but they shot 35% from
behind the arc. Olivet only shot 20% from three-point range.
 
“ Olivet has a great team. When I watched film on them, I thought they were
the most athletic team in the league” VandeStreek said after the game. “ The
talented freshmen on this team have done a nice job forgetting about the bad
plays and hustling down on defense. John Mantel has also done a great job
forgetting about mistakes. He also is a smart player. He has used his lower
body better this year instead of his hands and has avoided bad fouls.”
 
Calvin returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to Trine to face the
Thunder at 7:30 p.m.
 
OTHER MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES SATURDAY
Albion 69, Trine 61
Hope 87, Alma 74
Kalamazoo 65, Adrian 61
 
MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-9-10
 
Albion 2-0
Calvin 2-0
Kalamazoo 2-0
Adrian 1-1
Hope 1-1
Alma 0-2
Olivet 0-2
Trine 0-2
 

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
 
ANGOLA, IN -- Calvin broke and 18-day layoff with a 58-40 victory at Trine
University on Saturday afternoon. Ranked 13th nationally in the coaches' poll
and 20th in the latest d3hoops.com Top 25 poll, Calvin improves to 12-1 overall
and to 4-0 in the MIAA. The Knights currently share first place in the MIAA
standings with rival Hope.
 
Calvin jumped out to a 26-13 halftime lead and stretched its lead to as wide
as 26 points in the second half.
 
Senior Brook Van Eck led a balanced Calvin scoring attack with 12 points along
with six rebounds, a block and a steal. Freshman Carissa Verkaik had eight
points, eight rebounds, five blocks and two assists while freshman Kelsey Irwin
had eight points off the bench including a pair of three-pointers.
 
Senior Amber Benthem also swished a pair of triples and finished with seven
points.
 
Calvin shot 41.3 percent overall and went 13 of 18 (.722) at the free throw
line.
 
Playing without four of its normal starters because of injury, Trine (6-8
overall, 1-4 MIAA) was led by Taylor Terry with 14 points while Katelyn
Kaminski had 10.
 
Calvin returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Albion at 7:30 p.m. at Van
Noord Arena.
 
OTHER MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES SATURDAY
 
Hope 80, Kalamazoo 51
Alma 56, Albion 55
Olivet 52, Adrian 49
 
MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES THROUGH 1-9-10 GAMES
 
Calvin 4-0
Hope 4-0
Saint Mary's 3-1
Adrian 2-2
Alma 2-2
Albion 2-3
Olivet 2-3
Trine 1-4
Kalamazoo 0-5
 

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
 
The Calvin men's and women's swimming and diving teams were both victorious in
dual meet action against visiting Olivet Saturday afternoon at Calvin's Venema
Aquatic Center. In the women's competition, Calvin rolled to a 176-79 victory.
In the men's competition, Calvin held on for a 141-139 victory. The Calvin
women are now 3-2 in dual meet action while the Calvin men are 2-3.
 
In the men's competition, Calvin was able to build a 135-128 lead heading into
the final event - the 400 freestyle relay. Freshman Stephen Kraft helped Calvin
build a seven-point margin heading into the final event with a first place time
of 2:01.09 in the 200 IM. In the 400 freestyle relay, Olivet's top relay took
first place with a time of 3:13.73 to earn 11 points but the Knights picked up
six points behind a second place finish from its top relay (3:18.37) and a
third place finish by its number-two relay (3:31.25).
 
The Calvin men were led by Kraft who not only won the 200 IM, but also won the
100 breaststroke (1:01.32) and 200 breaststroke (2:20.06). Other individual
winners for the Calvin men included freshman Mark Rushlow in the 100 freestyle
(48.88), sophomore Ross Battoclette in the 500 freestyel (4:58.57), freshman
Colin Reynolds on the three-meter diving board (153.20) and one-meter diving
board (148.70).
 
On the women's side, Calvin received victories from junior Kendra Kinzer in
the 1,000 freestyle (11:15.23) and 100 freestyle (56.59), senior Libby Veldkamp
in the 200 freestyle (1:59.69), sophomore Elena Chong in the 100 backstroke
(1:07.90), freshman Rachel Colasurdo in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.75), senior
Emily Roberts in the 200 butterfly (2:20.74), senior Casey Herman on the
one-meter diving board (272.50), junior Monica Bressler in the 200 backstroke
(2:14.32), senior Laura Price in the 500 freestyle (5:24.18) and junior Caitlin
Alexander in the 100 butterfly (1:02.73).
 
Calvin also took first place in the 200 medley relay (1:56.19).
 
The Knights return to action next Friday and Saturday, competing at the
University of Chicago Invitational.
Received on Sat Jan 9 21:41:54 2010