CKSR (Volleyball Defeats Penn State-Behrend in First Round NCAA III Tournament Match / Swimming and Diving Teams Move Into National Coaches' Polls)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 14, 2013 (Part Two)

Volleyball Defeats Penn State-Behrend in First Round NCAA III Tournament Match;
Swimming and Diving Teams Crack National Rankings in College Swim Coaches Association Polls

VOLLEYBALL

By Mark DeHaan

The Calvin women's volleyball team returned to NCAA Tournament play on Thursday evening, hosting an NCAA III regional for the third straight year. The Knights came into the tournament as the top ranked team in the country, coming off a five set victory over the previous top-ranked team, the rival Flying Dutch of Hope College.

Calvin's first round opponent was Penn State-Behrend, a team that came in with a 22-8 record and was making its first tournament appearance since 2005. The Lions were winners of the President's Athletic Conference, earning the automatic bid.

In the first set, Calvin jumped out to a 5-0 lead to force the Lions into a timeout. The Knights dominating start continued after the stoppage of play as strong serving from junior Elise Biesboer allowed Calvin to build an 11-0 advantage before another timeout. Biesboer continued her aggressive serving and the Knights held the Lions without a point until an 18-0 advantage. Calvin closed out the first set 25-4.

Sophomore Maggie Kamp had six kills in the first set while senior setter Megan Rietema added four.
Set two was played much more closely, with the Lions trailing just 12-10 midway through. Calvin then built an 18-12 lead before a timeout from the Penn State-Behrend coach. The Knights finished out set two for a 25-15 win.

Freshman Laura Danhoff paced the Knights offense with five kills in the second set.

Calvin closed out the match in strong set three, earning the 25-8 win and a three set sweep.
Kamp led the Knights in kills with 12, while Danhoff, recently named the Great Lakes Region Freshman of the Year, added nine. Rietema had 25 assists and six kills, senior Kristi Zietse led the Knights with nine digs while sophomore Jamie Kooiman and junior Elise Biesboer each had eight digs.

Calvin's defense held the Lions to a hitting percentage of -.101 while tallying four blocks. The Knights offense hit .395 as a team and had 10 service aces.

"Our serving was spot on tonight - I thought we were consistent and we were aggressive," said head coach Amber Warners. "I thought we did a nice job of staying in our tempo, and we did that because we passed well."

"I really try to make sure I get the first few in and as it goes on I keep serving tougher and tougher," said Biesboer. "It just worked out tonight that I was able to serve 18 in a row."

Calvin's win was the finale of four tournament match-ups on the day at Van Noord Arena. Wittenberg University opened up the tournament with a three set sweep of Bluffton University. The University of Chicago then defeated Buffalo State in four sets and the University of Mount Union swept Carnegie Mellon University.

Wittenberg, ranked 10th nationally, and Chicago, ranked 16th, will face off tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. and the Knights will face #9 Mount Union at 7 p.m. Calvin defeated Mount Union earlier this year in three sets at the Midwest Challenge, but the Knights aren't taking the Purple Raiders lightly.

"(Mount Union) is a very good team and they do a lot of things well. They are a team that is taller than we typically see, so we're going to have to take everything we did tonight and do it better and come ready to go," said Warners. "At this stage of the tournament, there are no freebies and you have to bring your A-game, and if you don't, you're going home."
With its victory Thursday, Calvin reached the 30-win plateau for the 13th consecutive year. Calvin is now 34-23 all-time in NCAA III Tournament play.

SWIMMING AND DIVING

The Calvin men's and women's swimming and diving teams are both ranked in the latest College Swim Coaches Association of America Top 20 polls. The Calvin men are ranked 14th while the Calvin women are ranked 20th.

Earlier this week the Calvin men's team also cracked the Collegeswimming.com Top 25 poll, moving in at #15.

CSCAA NCAA Division 3 Swimming and Diving Ranking as of November 14, 2013

DIII Women's Teams
1. Emory University
2. Denison University
3. Kenyon College
4. Johns Hopkins University
T5. University of Chicago
T5. NYU
7. MIT
T8 Stevens Institute of Technology
T8. Carnegie Mellon University
10. Washington University (MO)
11. Wheaton College (IL)
12. University of Rochester
13. University of Mary Washington
14. Springfield College
15. Keene State College
16. Gustavus Adolphus College
17. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
T18. Grove City College
T18. Washington & Lee University
20. Calvin College

DIII Men's Teams
1. Denison University
2. Kenyon College
3. Emory University
4. Johns Hopkins University
5. Carnegie Mellon University
6. Keene State College
7. Stevens Institute of Technology
8. MIT
T9. The College of New Jersey
T9. NYU
11. University of Chicago
12. DePauw University
13. Washington University (MO)
T14. St. Olaf College
T14. Calvin College
16. University of Mary Washington
T17. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
T17. University of Redlands
19. University of Rochester
20. Carleton College
Received on Thu Nov 14 22:16:13 2013