CSR (Women's Tennis Edges Hope/Keith Spoelstra Named MIAA Pitcher of the Week)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR MARCH 30, 2010
Women's Tennis Comes From Behind For Win Over Hope;
Keith Spoelstra Named MIAA Pitcher of the Week in baseball
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Calvin 5, Hope 4
(written by Calvin sports information student assistant Mitch Blankespoor)
The Calvin women’s tennis team wanted to start off the MIAA regular season
with a win. There is no better team for the Knights to to beat than their
rivals: the Flying Dutch of Hope College. Calvin did win its season opener
nipping Hope 5-4 Tuesday afternoon at the Strikwerda Tennis Courts.
The doubles matches proved to be very competitive. Calvin’s No. 1 doubles
combination of juniors Melissa Oosterhouse (Grand Rapids Christian) and Kaitlin
Spoelhof (Holland Christian) fell 9-7 to Alyssa Austin and Danielle Worely in a
hotly contested pro set. The Knights also fell to the Dutch at 2nd doubles
with the score again 9-7. Calvin’s lone doubles win came at third doubles.
Seniors Elisabeth Geenen and Rachel DeGroot defeated Schulz and Olson 8-2.
Going into the singles, Calvin needed to win four of the six matches.
Junior Melissa Oosterhouse made quick work of Hope’s Alyssa Austin defeating
her 6-1, 6-1 at first singles to improve to 13-1 in singles play this year.
One down, three to go.
Next off the courts was the third singles match between Elisabeth Geenen and
Danielle Wurley. The Knights picked up their second singles point and third in
the match as Geenen defeated Wurley 6-1, 6-3. The fourth singles match ended
right after third singles. Calvin won 6-3, 6-4 as Rachel Strikwerda defeated
Nicole Spagnolo.
Calvin was sitting in pretty good shape at this point in the match. There
were three matches still on the court, and all the Knight’s needed was to win
one of those matches. To swing the match more in Calvin’s favor, Rachel
DeGroot had fought off back-to-back set points to take the first set in a
tiebreak at sixth singles. Some forget tennis matches can turn around quickly.

Hope then won at fifth singles as Casey Bruxter defeated Michelle Busscher
6-4, 7-6(0). This put the overall match score at 4-3 in favor of Calvin.
Rachel DeGroot came up clutch for the Knights winning the sixth singles match
for the Knights 7-6(5), 7-5 in dramatic fashion clinching the match for the
Knights. Kaitlin Spoelhof could not hold on to a set lead in the second
singles matchup falling to Katherine Garcia 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(4).
“ I was expecting a tough match at doubles from Hope since they are very
strong there. Losing two matches 9-7 deflated us a little bit, but I was proud
of this team for rebounding. Rachel (DeGroot) was big for us today. She has
had a lot of close matches some of which she has lost. Her win sealed it for
us.” Calvin head women’s tennis coach Jerry Bergsma
The victory allowed Calvin to improve to 9-2 overall and 2-0 in MIAA play. A
year ago Calvin dropped a pair of 5-4 decisions to Hope including a one-point
decision in the MIAA Tournament Championship final.
Tuesday’s match also featured a pair of regionally-ranked teams as Hope came
in ranked 12th in the ITA Division III Central Region rankings while Calvin
came in ranked 13th.
Calvin is back in action on Friday, traveling to Trine for a match slated to
start at noon.
Calvin-Hope Women's Tennis Match Box Score:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/womens/tennis/results/2010/chopew.htm
BASEBALL
For the second time in his collegiate career, Calvin College junior Keith
Spoelstra has been named MIAA Pitcher of the Week in baseball for games played
through March 29. Spoelstra also received the award as a freshman during the
final week of the 2008 MIAA season.
A native of Oakland, New Jersey, Spoelstra fired a complete-game six-hitter
Monday afternoon in pitching the Knights to a 3-1 road victory over defending
MIAA champion Adrian.
A graduate of Eastern Christian High School, Spoelstra did not allow an earned
run, walked one and struck out six in his seven innings of work. Spoelstra is
currently 2-1 on the season with a team-leading 19 strikeouts. Calvin returns
to action on Thursday when it hosts Hope in a doubleheader at Calvin Field at
2:00 p.m.
Received on Tue Mar 30 23:19:21 2010