CKSR (Volleyball Advances to National Semifinals With Win Over Puget Sound)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR NOV. 15, 2012

Volleyball Advances to National Semifinals With Win Over Puget Sound

VOLLEYBALL
Calvin 3, Puget Sound 1
(story by MIAA Publicist Greg Chandler)
HOLLAND, Mich. – Playing less than 40 miles from their home campus, Calvin
(Mich.) College dominated the final two sets Thursday night in defeating the
University of Puget Sound (Wash.), 25-22, 23-25, 25-15, 25-10, in an NCAA
Division III volleyball tournament quarterfinal at DeVos Fieldhouse.
The Knights, who won the 2010 national championship,will take on 2011 national
runnerup Christopher Newport (Va.)University (40-2) at 7:30 p.m. Friday night
in a Division III semifinal matchup. The other semifinal, at 5 p.m., pits St.
Thomas (Minn.) (38-1) against Elmhurst (Ill.) (33-7).
The first two sets were evenly played. The first set was tied nine times
before national Division III Player of the Year Lizzie Kamp got going. Kamp had
four kills during an 8-2 run that gave Calvin a 17-11 lead. The Loggers (22-6)
battled back to within two points on three occasions, but Calvin freshman
Maggie Kamp closed out the set with a cross-court kill.
              
In the second set, Puget Sound’s strong serving helpedthe Loggers build a
17-10 lead. Calvin pulled to within 23-22 on a tandem block by Rebecca Ratkov
and Megan Rietema. However, Marissa
Florant’s kill pulled Puget Sound even at a set apiece.
The Knights seized control of the match in the third set, jumping out to a 7-3
lead and extending the lead from there, hitting .375 for the set. Calvin then
scored the first six points in the fourth set, and Puget Sound never
recovered.
“I think we served more aggressively (in the final two sets). Our passing was
more on. When our passing is on and Megan can be offensive, it really throws
the (opposing) defense and the block off,” Calvin coach Amber Warners said.
Lizzie Kamp led the Knights with 18 kills and 14 digs, while Emily Crowe had
11 kills and a hitting percentage of .500. Rietema, who joined Lizzie Kamp as
first-team All-Americans, had nine kills, 41 assists, 13 digs and five blocks,
while Kristen Zietze had 16 digs.
      
“Calvin is really a great team. They have a lot of firepower. We knew that
coming in,” Puget Sound coach Mark Massey said. “One of the keys for us was to
serve very effectively, and pass to all our options in our offense. I thought
we played two outstanding games (to start the match).”
Florant and Jackie Harvey led the Loggers with 10 kills each. Jenni Brehove
dished out 38 assists and added 10 digs,while libero Christina Chun had 16 digs
before leaving the match because of injury in the fourth set.
Received on Fri Nov 16 00:38:32 2012