CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR NOV. 19, 2010 (Part Three)
Volleyball Advances to NCAA III Final Four To Face Juniata;
Men's Soccer Advances to National Quarterfinals With Shootout Win Over
Wisconsin-Whitewater;
Women's Basketball Derailed by Late Wisconsin-Whitewater Comeback Bid;
Men's Basketball Falls in Closing Seconds to Grace Bible in Calvin Tip-Off
Tournament
VOLLEYBALL
Calvin 3, UMass Boston 1 (25-21, 25-10, 17-25, 25-17)
ST. LOUIS, MO - (Written by Sports Information Student Assistant Mitch
Blankespoor)
The Calvin College women’s volleyball team had made won the region for the
first time since 1992. That was an amazing feat. They won one of the toughest
regions in the country knocking off the 13th ranked Student Princes of
Heidelberg and then defeating host 2nd ranked Wittenberg to win the region.
The Knights were not satisfied with that.
A phrase that the Knights have used all year is “We love winning”. This
phrase proved correct as Calvin went on to defeat the 24th ranked University of
Massachusetts at Boston Beacons in four sets my scores of 25-21, 25-10, 17-25,
25-17.
Calvin started out the first set on a 10-5 run thanks to a service run my
first team All-American Rebecca Kamp. Teams kept trading points until the
21-16 mark when Amber Clemons stepped up to the service line. She rattled off
four straight points which forced a timeout from Calvin head coach Amber
Warners. Calvin was able to close out the first set with a Rebecca Kamp
serve.
The second set was total domination for Calvin. Calvin got ahead by the
familiar score of 10-5 causing UMass-Boston head coach Terry Condon to call a
timeout. The timeout did not prove to do much, as service runs from Jen
Pluymert and Lizzie Kamp doubled Calvin’s lead to 21-9. An Erin VanderPlas
kill ended the second set.
Determined not to end their season with a straight set loss, the Beacons
popped out to a 6-2 lead in the third set forced Warners to call a timeout.
Calvin just the lead to 10-7, but that was as close as they got. Beacon
All-American Shannon Thompson served out four straight points for UMass-Boston.
She recorded four more kills to give the Beacons the set.
The Calvin Knights were not to be denied. The fourth set was tied at five,
and the Calvin went on a12-5 run to take a 17-11 lead. Cassy Hanneman came up
with a mini service run to keep pace with Calvin, but that is all they could
do. Erin VanderPlas came up with a couple of kills to seal the victory for the
Knights.
Calvin as a team hit at a .303 clip while the Breacons hit .149. Calvin had
eight total team blocks to UMass-Boston’s seven. Each team had six service
aces,
Calvin had nine service errors while the Beacon’s had four.
“We had a pretty balanced attack today. Megan did a nice job reading the
block. Our middle hitters were triple teamed often. She did a nice job of
setting it to the outsides where our hitters had only one blocker to deal with”
Warners said after the match.
Calvin used a balanced attack. Megan Rietema dished out 37 assists to go
along with five kills and four blocks. Calvin had four players with at least
nine kills. Rebecca Kamp had 14, Erin VanderPlas had 13, Lizzie Kamp had 10,
and Renee DeHaan had 9. VanderPlas led the Knights hitting .478, followed by
Renee DeHann who hit .400, and Rebecca Kamp who hit .379. DeHaan led the block
for Calvin with five.
“Erin and I feed off of each other. We have had that connection ever since
we’ve stepped on the court for Calvin. The whole front row has developed a
connection” Renee DeHaan said of her teammates.
The Beacons were led by Shannon Thompson who had 15 kills on 42 attempts for a
.115 hitting percentage.
“We have seen her on film and knew what kind of player she is. We really
tried keying in on her” Warners continued.
The Knights improve to 30-4 on the season and advance to the final four where
they will face Juniata 5th ranked Juniata College who has yet to drop a set in
the NCAA Tournament. They defeated St. Thomas University Tommies in straight
sets. The other semifinal will feature the defending national champions, 3rd
ranked University of Washington at St. Louis against the top ranked team in the
country the Emory University Eagles. They survived five setter scare against
5th ranked Christopher Newport University.
The match will take place at 4:30 Eastern Standard Time.
POST MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCwJD95OSqs
PHOTO GALLERY:
http://bearsports.wustl.edu/Sports/Content/Pages/PhotoGalleryDetail.aspx?PhotoSet=UMass%20Boston%20vs.%20Calvin
MEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 1, Wisconsin-Whitewater 1 (Calvin wins penalty kick shootout 9-8)
(Written by Sports Information Student Assistant Nate Triezenberg)
OSHKOSH, WI - There some moments that feel like they last a lifetime. For the
Calvin men’s soccer team one of those moments may be its 2010 Sweet Sixteen
contest against University of Wisconsin Whitewater Friday night. 17 minutes
into the first half, the Warhawks struck first off of a throw in 30 yards out.
The ball was tapped around in front of the net and the Knights were unable to
clear the ball when Ryan Richgels tapped in the first goal of the match inside
the near post. Though the Knights fell behind early, they had their
opportunities to equalize on multiple occasions in the first half.
“This game was an uphill battle…After they (UW- Whitewater) scored, the
momentum started kicking in and our guys just started focusing a bit more. When
we fall behind we tend to work harder, faster, and stronger,” said Coach Chris
Hughes after the game.
The increased focus paid off eight minutes after the Warhawks goal when Tyler
Vegter answered the call and buried a header inside the far post off of a nifty
cross from the left corner compliments of Michael Sanderson.
“We showed a lot of resiliency in this game, we needed a goal to get back in
it and Vegter delivered a goal for us when we needed it.”
After scoring the game tying goal, the Knights took a more aggressive approach
and had multiple opportunities inside the penalty box but were unable to
capitalize on opportunities.
One such opportunity was put on by Chris Nance early in the first half. Nance
put a ball on from just outside the penalty area which deflected off the inside
of the post, a shot which normally would take a friendly bounce into the back
of the net, but this time it deflected directly back off the post and back in
to play.
Such is the way the game went for the rest of the time between these two
teams. The Knights and Warhawks played another 20 minutes of added time but
were unable to draw blood pushing the match in to a penalty shootout.
With history on the Knights side, they went into the penalty shootout sporting
three underclassmen. “Our underclassmen are helping bring us back to where we
were last year. It isn’t just one or two of them, all of them are putting in
the hard work and helping to push this team forward,” said Hughes.
After having successfully navigated three penalty shootouts dating back to
last year’s NCAA tournament, the Knights had history on their side heading in.
The penalty shootout would go through eight rounds before Ryan Bratt would make
a stop and give the Knights a chance to clinch victory.
That is all Miles Colago would need, burying the final shot in the penalty
round and pushing the Knights to victory. The Knights will now look forward to
facing UW-Oshkosh who ended the regular season ranked 11th in the d3soccer.com
top 25 poll.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my team,” were the words of Hughes after this
game, and that is exactly what this Knights team is playing with, pride.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
UW-Whitewater 60, Calvin 54
MILWAUKEE, WI - Calvin suffered its first defeat of the young season, falling
to Wisconsin-Whitewater 60-54 in the opener of the Wisconsin-Lutheran Tipoff
Tournament Friday evening. Calvin (1-1) will face Heidelberg College in the
consolation game at 2 p.m. (EST) Saturday afternoon.
Friday's contest was a game of two different halves as Calvin led 34-21 at
halftime only to see the Warhawks outscore the Knights 39-20 over the final 20
minutes of play.
Free throw shooting proved to be a difference maker in the game as
Wisconsin-Whitewater connected on 23-of-30 attempts from the free throw line
while Calvin was 12-of-15 at the stripe.
Calvin (1-1) held a lead until Whitewater tied the game at 43 with 9:53
remaining. Calvin regained the lead at 47-43 on buckets from junior Courtney
Kurncz (St. Johns, MI) and Ally Wolffis (Muskegon-Mona Shores HS) but the
Warhawks scored the next five points to take its first lead of the half at
48-47. Kurncz put the Knight back on top 49-48 with a jumper at the 5:58 mark
Whitewater came back to tie the game at 52-52 but Calvin junior Carissa Verkaik
(Holland Christian HS) delivered a layup inside to put Calvin up 54-52.
Wisconsin-Whitewater's Emily Bestor answered with a three-pointer with 1:46
remaining and the Warhawks never trailed again scoring the final five points of
the game to seal the win.
Calvin was led by Verkaik with 23 points and 13 rebounds while Wolffis had 11
points and eightr boards. Kurncz chipped in with nine points and a pair of
assists. Wisconsin-Whitewater was led by Dana Thompson with 28 points and 11
rebounds.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Grace Bible 64, Calvin 63
By Sports Information Student Assistant Andrew Knot
In their home-opener at the Van Noord Arena, the Knights fell to the Grace
Bible College Tigers 64-63 in heartbreaking fashion. Ryan Krombeen’s got
position in the paint, rolled a game-winning shot around the rim, and gave the
Tigers a late lead with under ten seconds remaining. Calvin quickly inbounded
the ball to junior Brad Schnyders, who charged down the sideline but was unable
to get a shot off.
The basket came after the Knights surrendered a nine point lead with just
under five minutes remaining. A three-pointer from Matt Kurtz and a tip-dunk
from Allen Durham helped to tie the game with a minute to play. On the Knights’
ensuing possession, Brent Schuster drew a foul in the paint to get to the free
throw line. Schuster missed the first but made the second to give Calvin a
63-62 lead before Krombeen’s late three-footer swung the game for the Tigers.
“I think we got the lead and played very passively,” said Head Coach Kevin
Vande Streek. The Knights also conceded a lead late in the first half and
entered half-time trailing 34-28.
“Other than the loss, which is heartbreaking in a close game like this, I’m
really pleased in the progress we made from Tuesday to today,” said Vande
Streek, who added that he saw improvement in the offensive decision making and
the overall defense play of his team.
Senior Danny Rodts led the Knights with 14 points, senior Brent Schuster and
sophomore Tom Snikkers each contributed 13 points. Schuster also led the
Knights in rebounds, with 11. The game experienced five ties and 11 lead
changes.
In the opening first round game, Heidelberg edged Ohio Wesleyan 58-57.
Heidelberg will face Grace Bible College in the championship game at 3 p.m.
Received on Sat Nov 20 01:30:03 2010
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