CSR (Tennis Teams Receive ITA Academic Honors/Soccer Teams Ranked in Pre-Season National Polls)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR AUGUST 11, 2010
 
Tennis Teams Receive ITA Academic Honors;
Soccer Teams Ranked in Pre-Season National Polls
 
MEN'S TENNIS
 
For the sixth consecutive year, the Calvin men's tennis team has received the ITA All-Academic Award. All six awards have come under the watch of current Calvin men's tennis coach John Ross.
 
In order to receive the award, a team needed to maintain a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above for the 2009-10 academic year. The Calvin men's tennis team posted a team grade point average of 3.288 during the 2009-10 academic year.
 
In addition, three members of the Calvin men's tennis team have received ITA Scholar-Athlete academic honors for maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or above during the 2009-10 academic year. The three individuals from Calvin to be so honored are freshman Brian DeMaagd (Grandville/Calvin Christian HS), junior Roland Eldridge (Charlotte, NC/South Mecklenburg HS) and recently graduated senior Andrew Rescorla (Zionsville, IN/Zionsville Community High School).
 
WOMEN'S TENNIS
 
For the third consecutive year, the Calvin women's tennis team has received the ITA All-Academic Award. All three awards have come under current head coach Jerry Bergsma.
 
In order to receive the award, a team needed to maintain a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above for the 2009-10 academic year. The Calvin women's tennis team posted a team grade point average of 3.422 during the 2009-10 academic year.
 
In addition seven members of the Calvin women's tennis team have received ITA Scholar-Athlete academic honors for maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or above during the 2009-10 academic year. The seven individuals from Calvin are freshmen Janelle Steenstra (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) and Jordan Ipema (Kalamazoo/Kalamazoo Christian HS), juniors Michelle Busscher (Whitehall/Western Michigan Christian HS), Melissa Oosterhouse (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS), Kaitlin Spoelhof (Holland/Holland Christian HS) and recently graduated seniors Rachel DeGroot (Lombard, IL/Timothy Christian HS) and Rachel Strikwerda (Holland/Holland Christian HS).
 
The collection of academic honors caps off an outstanding 2009-10 year for the Knights. During the year, Calvin captured its first MIAA regular season title since 1982 and then advanced to its first-ever NCAA III Tournament by winning the MIAA Tournament title. Calvin also earned the MIAA's Team GPA Award for posting a team cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or above for the entire academic year.
 
Individually, Oosterhouse was named the recipient of the NCAA's Division III Elite 88 Award in women's tennis for holding the highest cumulative grade point average of any individual competing at the NCAA III Women's Tennis Championships. Oosterhouse was later named a first team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American.
 
MEN'S SOCCER
 
The pre-season Division III Top 25 men's soccer poll conducted by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America has been released and Calvin is ranked second behind defending national champion Messiah College.
 
The pre-season poll can be found online at: http://www.nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=1211&dv=3&dt=20100810&gen=Men
 
A year ago under the direction of head coach Chris Hughes, Calvin finished 18-5-3 overall and advanced all the way to the national title game for the first time in school history. Calvin earned a bid to the NCAA III Tournament in thrilling fashion, nipping rival Hope 1-0 in the regular season finale for both teams, allowing the Knights to finish one point ahead of Hope in the league standings.
 
Calvin then advanced through the NCAA III Tournament in equally thrilling fashion, defeating rival Wheaton (IL) 2-1 on the road and then advancing past Wartburg (IA) in a penalty kick shootout in the second round. In the third round, Calvin upset host Carnegie Mellon 2-1 and then advanced to the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas, by winning a penalty kick shootout against Transylvania University in a national quarterfinal game.
 
At the NCAA III Final Four, Calvin edged Dominican University (IL) 1-0 in a semifinal game before falling to Messiah 2-0 in the final.
 
Calvin is scheduled to open its 2010 campaign on September 3 at 4 p.m. when it hosts Milwaukee School of Engineering in the first round of the Cal Bergsma Memorial Tournament.
 
WOMEN'S SOCCER
 
The pre-season Division III Top 25 women's soccer poll conducted by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America has been released and Calvin is ranked 15th.
 
The pre-season poll can be found online at: http://www.nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=1214&dv=3&dt=20100810&gen=Women
 
A year ago under the direction of head coach Mark Recker, Calvin finished 16-5-1 overall and advanced to the NCAA III Quarterfinals for the second time in four years. Calvin also captured the MIAA regular season title for a fifth straight year, finishing 7-1-0 in league play.
 
Calvin then received an at-large bid to the NCAA III Tournament and defeated Washington and Jefferson 4-0 in the first round and Wittenberg 1-0 in the second round. In the third round, Calvin upset host Augustana 2-1 before falling to eventual national runner-up Washington University (MO) 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
 
Calvin is scheduled to open its 2010 campaign at home on September 1 when it hosts Aquinas at 4 p.m. Calvin will then travel to St. Louis to face second-round Washington University September 3 at 8 p.m. (EST).
Received on Wed Aug 11 14:14:09 2010