CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR OCT. 26, 2012
Volleyball Captures Outright MIAA Title;
Swimming and Diving Teams Fall to GVSU
VOLLEYBALL
By Mitch Blankespoor
GRAND RAPIDS – The Calvin College volleyball team won the MIAA Conference
Championship outright Friday evening defeating the Saint Mary’s Belles in
straight sets by scores of 25-10, 25-20, 25-16.
Calvin, ranked second in the country in the most recent AVCA Division III
Poll, came out of the gates hot. Senior Kelly Gordon (Caledonia/South
Christian) served four straight times, giving the Knights the early lead.
Senior Rebecca Ratkov (New Baltimore/Anchor Bay) had three kills of Calvin’s
first four kills, pulling the Knights in front 8-1. This forced a timeout call
from Saint Mary’s head coach Toni Kuschel.
The Belles would cut Calvin’s lead to four, but could get no closer. A long
service run from senior defensive specialist Jen Pluymert (Grand Rapids/Grand
Rapids Christian) gave Calvin a 21-7 advantage. The Knights coasted to a first
set victory.
Calvin hit a blistering .455 clip in set one, while holding Saint Mary’s to
-.061.
The Belles hung with the second-ranked Knights in the second set. Saint
Mary’s took its biggest lead of the evening at 6-3 in the second set. Two
more kills from Ratkov and three attack errors from the Belles gave Calvin back
the lead. Saint Mary’s would get within a single point, and 20-19, but two
kills from sophomore Emily Crowe (Granger, IN/Mishawaka Penn) gave Calvin the
second set victory.
Calvin took a 9-4 lead in set three behind three straight service aces from
senior Lizzie Kamp (Orland Park, IL/Chicago Christian). Saint Mary’s got
within two points, but could not equalize. Calvin won the match-clinching
third set, and secured the top seed in the MIAA Tournament which starts Friday,
November 2nd.
Calvin hit .330 as a team while holding Saint Mary’s to a mere .074. Calvin
tallied seven blocks with Ratkov leading the way individually with four block
assists.
Saint Mary’s freshmen outside hitter Kati Schneider led everyone with 12
kills. Lizzie Kamp and Maggie Kamp had 11 and 10 kills respectively for
Calvin. Emily Crowe had nine. Junior setter Megan Rietema (Grand Rapids/Grand
Rapids Christian) dished out 41 assists. Jen Pluymert led the Knights with 12
digs.
“I was happy we stayed consistent throughout the whole match,” Calvin head
coach Amber Warners said. “Saint Mary’s is a very scrappy team defensively.
They made us work hard for every point.”
With the win, the Knights captured the MIAA Championship outright for the
second straight year. Calvin heads into its final regular season game against
Albion Saturday. The Knights bring with them a 35-match MIAA winning streak.
The matchup at Albion is slated to start at 3 p.m.
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
By Mark DeHaan
With a swim meet tomorrow at Olivet, the Calvin swim and dive team hopes to
look strong on back-to-back days as they swam Friday night against Division II
Grand Valley State. The Lakers won both the men's and women's competitions,
defeating the Calvin men 163-77 and the Calvin women 157-83.
On the men's side, Calvin earned second place in the first even of the night,
the 200 yard medley relay. The team of junior Andrew Mitchell, freshman Johnson
Cochran, senior Mark Rushlow, and freshman Mitchell Schroder swam to a second
place finish in 1:37.45.
In the next event, the 1000 yard freestyle, freshman Aaron Venema put in a
strong swim as he earned first place in 10:01.94.
In the 50 yard freestyle, Calvin finished third and fourth as Rushlow took
third in 22.26 and Schroder finished four in 22.35.
The tenth event saw the Knights earn an eighth place finish as senior Stephen
Kraft swam the 200 yard individual medley in 2:05.69.
In the 100 yard free, Mitchell took second for Calvin in 48.35.
The 100 yard breaststroke saw the Calvin men take their only first place
finish of the night as Cochran earned a close win in 59.31, just 13-hundredths
faster than second place.
In the men's diving, junior Jon Dennison took second in the one meter board
with 234.55 points while finishing first in the three meter with 226.85 points.
On the women's side, Calvin took second in the opening relay. Seniors Kristy
Kinzer, Elizabeth Counsell, Rachel Colasurdo, and freshman Michaela Rookus
finished the 200 yard medley relay in 1:50.77.
In the 1000 yard freestyle, the Knights earned a 1-2 finish as sophomore
Kathryn Wrobel took first in 10:47.99 and senior Shelby Cloyd finished second
in 10:55.04.
Senior Stephie Fox took second in the 200 yard freestyle in 1:59.72.
The 50 yard freestyle saw Rookus continue her strong night as she finished
second in a time of 24.74.
Sophomore Alexi Scott then earned a second place finish in the 200 yard IM in
2:16.56.
In the 100 yard butterfly, Colasurdo earned second in 1:01.14.
Fox then took third in the 100 yard freestyle, finishing in 55.46.
Kristy Kinzer, coming of an injury last season, continued to swim well as she
finished third in the 100 yard backstroke in 1:02.81.
Calvin then earned a pair of consecutive 2-3 finishes, first in the 500 yard
freestyle as senior Shelby Cloyd took second in 5:19.66 and senior Margaret
Rechel finished third in 5:32.39. Then, in the 100 yard breaststroke, Cousell
finished second in 1:08.42 while Scott took third in 1:10.94.
Calvin's relay teams took a 2-3 finish in the 200 yard freestyle relay. Fox,
senior Margaret Rechel, sophomore Alex Dhaenens and senior Rachel Colasurdo
took second in 1:41.69 while sophomore Betsey Otten,Wrobel, freshman Leah
Meyer, and Kinzer finished third in 1:43.88.
On the boards, senior Sam Klaasen took second in one meter with 245.40 points
and second in the three meter board with 257.60 points.
“We're just trying to work on the preparation of swimming fast Friday night
and then again on Saturday,” said Gelderloos. “Eventually, we have to do that
three and a half days in a row (at the MIAA Championships). Aaron Venema had a
fantastic thousand, another freshman Johnson Cochran had a very respectable 100
breaststroke, both men's and women's relays were pretty good and Kristy Kinzer,
coming back from a broken hand had a fantastic outing.”
Calvin returns to the pool tomorrow when it travels to Olivet to take on the
Comets with the meet starting at 1 p.m.
Received on Fri Oct 26 23:53:01 2012
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