CSR (Warners Named AVCA Coach of the Year/Knights Finish in Top Spot in Final AVCA DIII Poll/Women's Basketball Ranked 23rd)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 23, 2010
Warners Named Division III National Coach of the Year by AVCA;
Calvin Finishes in Top Spot in Final AVCA Division III Top 25 Poll;
Women's Basketball Ranked 23rd in ESPN/USA TODAY Division III Coaches Poll
VOLLEYBALL
(release prepared by American Volleyball Coaches Association)
LEXINGTON, Ky. (November 23, 2010) – The American Volleyball Coaches
Association (AVCA) is proud to announce that Calvin College head women’s
volleyball coach Amber Warners has been selected as the 2010 AVCA Division III
National Coach of the Year.
She is the second coach in Calvin women's volleyball history to receive the
honor as Karla Wolters received the award in 1986 in a year where Warners was
the starting setter on a Calvin team coached by Wolters that advanced all the
way to the national title match before falling to UC-San Diego in five sets. It
marks the 15th time that a coach of a Calvin team has earned National Coach of
the Year honors.

In her ninth season as the Calvin head coach, Warners helped the Knights to a
magical year in 2010. Calvin earned the program’s third MIAA regular season
title, took home its first NCAA Regional title since 1992 and captured its
first-ever NCAA Division III national championship with a 3-1 victory over
Emory on November 22. The Knights’ road to their storybook ending was not an
easy one, as the squad knocked off nationally-ranked squads Heidelberg (No.
13), Wittenberg (No.2), UMass-Boston (No. 24), Juniata (T-No.3) and Emory
(No.1) in the NCAA postseason alone.
 
Under Warners’s direction, the Knights rolled to a 32-4 overall record in 2010
against some tough competition. Calvin faced eight teams ranked in the AVCA
Division III Coaches Top-25 Poll this season, posting an 8-4 record in those
contests. The Knights began the preseason as the No. 9 team in the poll,
vaulted five spots to No. 4 after an early victory over rival Hope, but quickly
fell back to No. 9 the following week after suffering a pair of losses to
regional foes Wittenberg and Heidelberg.
 
The Knights remained in the poll’s top-10 the duration of the season and
skyrocketed up the rankings after its postseason push that left the program as
the No. 1 ranked team in NCAA Division III to end the campaign.
Warners, a 1990 Calvin graduate, has compiled a 262-56 record (.824) in her
time as the Knights’ mentor. The program has made 20 appearances in the NCAA
Tournament, including seven consecutive showings under Warners’s guidance. She
has also coached the program’s only two AVCA Division III Freshman of the Year
recipients, current junior Rebecca Kamp (2008) and current freshman Megan
Rietema (2010).
 
Warners also served one year as interim head coach at Hope, leading the team
to a 21-11 campaign in 1994. In 10 years as a collegiate head coach, she is
283-67 (.809), ranking her among the top 10 active coaches in Division III
nationally in winning percentage.
In addition, Washington University in St. Louis assistant women’s volleyball
coach Charles Rodman has been named the organization’s AVCA Division III
National Assistant Coach of the Year.
The AVCA will formally present both coaches their awards at the 2010 Jostens
Coaches Honors Luncheon in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday, December 16. The
luncheon is held in conjunction with the 2010 AVCA Annual Convention.
MORE VOLLEYBALL
 
For the first time in school history, the Calvin women's volleyball team has
finished number-one in the final AVCA Division III Top 25 poll of the season.
The Knights received a unanimous 24 first place votes in the final poll -
released this afternoon. During its march through the NCAA III Tournament,
Calvin knocked off (then) number-two ranked Wittenberg University, number-three
ranked Juniata College and top-ranked Emory University.
FINAL AVCA DIVISION III TOP 25 POLL:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/womens/volleyball/DIIIpoll11-23-10.pdf
MEDIA COVERAGE OF CALVIN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL NATIONAL TITLE RUN:
 
*Grand Rapids Press Feature on Amber Warners and Megan Rietema:
http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2010/11/calvin_volleyball_coach_amber.html

*Grand Rapids Press National Championship Match Recap:
http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2010/11/calvin_wins_schools_first_ncaa.html

*NCAA.com feature story on Megan Rietema:
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/112210aaa.html

*Calvin/Emory Video Highlights from NCAA.com:
http://www.ncaa.com/allaccess/?media=213419

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The Calvin women's basketball team is ranked 23rd in the latest USA Today/ESPN
Division III Coaches Poll released this afternoon. The Knights are currently
2-1 on the season and return to action on Friday when they face Aquinas College
at 5:30 p.m. in a first round game of the Olivet College Thanksgiving Classic.
 
USA Today/ESPN Division III Coaches Poll:
http://www.wbca.org/blog/index.cfm/2010/11/23/20102011-Week-1-DIII-Poll/
Received on Wed Nov 24 00:04:57 2010