CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 16, 2013
Volleyball Claims Regional Title With Win Over Wittenberg;
Women's Soccer Bows Out of NCAA III Tourney With 2nd Round Loss to Top-Ranked Wash. U.
Women's Cross Country Claims Regional Title - Men's Cross Country Second - Both Teams Punch Tickets to Nationals
VOLLEYBALL
Calvin 3, Wittenberg 2
For the third time in four years, the Calvin women's volleyball team is headed back to quarterfinal round of the NCAA III Tournament.
The top-ranked Knights did so in a familiar way, defeating 10th-ranked Wittenberg in a five-set NCAA III regional final Saturday night in front of more than 2,000 fans at Calvin's Van Noord Arena. Calvin won the match by scores of 25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 24-26, 15-9.
Calvin will face the winner of a regional final between Williams (Ma.) and U-Mass Boston. The Williams/U-Mass-Boston match will be played on Sunday afternoon. Calvin's quarterfinal match against its Massachusetts opponent will be played next Thursday at Hope's DeVos Fieldhouse at a time yet to be announced.
Saturday night marked the fourth consecutive year that Calvin and Wittenberg have faced off in a regional final. It also marked the fifth time that two teams have done so overall as they also met in the 2005 NCAA III regional final at Wittenberg with the Tigers winning that matchup in three sets. In 2010, Calvin won at Wittenberg in four sets and continued on to win the national title. In 2011, Wittenberg returned the favor, defeating Calvin in four sets in Grand Rapids - en route to the school's first national title. A year ago, Calvin defeated Wittenberg in five sets - once again in Grand Rapids.
In the 2013 regional final, Calvin threatened a three-set sweep as the Knights led 15-13 in set three after winning the opening two sets. Wittenberg sophomore Kara Seidenstricker then turned the match around with a kill and five subsequent service points including one service ace. The run gave Wittenberg a 19-15 lead. Calvin came back to within a point at 24-23 but a Seidenstricker kill closed out the set and kept the match alive.
In set four, Calvin once again moved out a lead, going up 18-15 and later 23-20 but the visiting Tigers stiffened, scoring three straight points to tie the match at 23. A kill by senior Megan Rietema gave Calvin a 24-23 and a math point but Seidenstricker rose to the occasion again with back-to-back kills. A Calvin attack error then allowed Wittenberg to grab the 26-24 win and force a deciding set five.
"I could see it in their eyes," said Calvin women's volleyball coach Amber Warners of her players. "We weren't ready to give up. Our resiliency tonight was key and it showed in the fifth set."
Indeed.
Calvin rolled out to a 7-3 lead, forcing Wittenberg to burn both of its timeouts. Calvin then built a 13-7 lead and closed out the match behind an attack error and a service error by Wittenberg.
"We keep trying to preach to our team to keep with it," said Wittenberg head coach Paco Labrador of his team's comeback bid. "Both teams have good players that can get the job done and I think that is why you saw a lot of ebbs and flows throughout the match."
Calvin was led by sophomore Maggie Kamp who tallied 21 kills and 13 digs while junior Ellie Diepersloot had 12 kills and a .417 attack percentage. Junior Emily Crowe had nine kills while senior Megan Rietema had 40 assists, 11 digs and nine kills to go with five block assists. Senior Kristen Zietse also had a team-high 19 digs. Freshman Laura Danhoff had three service aces and a match-high eight block assists.
Wittenberg was paced by Seidenstricker who had a match-high 25 kills to go with 19 digs and three service aces. Senior Andrea Behling tallied 22 kills in her final match in a Wittenberg uniform while setter Meghan Vodopich had 53 assists and 12 digs.
"It's exciting," said Rietema about Calvin winning another regional title. "This is what our team plays for - to get to this point."
Calvin is now 4-1 in five-set matches this year. The Knights are also 35-23 all-time in NCAA III Tournament play.
WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
KENTWOOD, Mich. - The fifth-ranked Calvin women's cross country team left nothing to chance on Saturday, capturing the Great Lakes Regional title on its home course with a team score of 54 points.
By finishing first, the Knights receive an automatic trip to the NCAA III Championships next Saturday at Hanover College (Ind.).
A year ago, Calvin finished third at the regional meet and was forced to wait 24 hours to find out it had receive an at-large bid to the national meet.
On Saturday, Calvin nabbed one of two automatic berths to the national meet by placing four runners in the top 14 and five in the top 25. Oberlin College, ranked 11th nationally, nabbed the other automatic national spot by placing second with 104 points, one point ahead of third place (18th-ranked Hope.
The Knights were led by the one-two punch up front of freshman Cassie Vince (Amherst, OH/Amherst HS) and senior Nicole Michmerhuizen (Holland/Holland Christian HS) as Vince captured the regional title with a time of 21:27 while Michmerhuizen was fourth in a time of 21:44. Vince captured the regional title by a 14 second margin, finishing well ahead of Emma Lehmann of Oberlin who took second. Lehmann was one of three Oberlin runners to place in the top 11. Hope's top finish was Meredith Busman who placed 15th in a time of 22:17.
Vince is the first Great Lakes Regional champion from Calvin since Jessie Lair accomplished the feat in 2003. She is the sixth individual from Calvin to do so overall, joining Lair, Amy Mizzone (1998, 1999), Betsy Haverkamp (1996), Renea Bluekamp (1993) and Laura Vroon (1983).
Rounding out Calvin's top five were junior Kimby Penning (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) in 12th (22:11), senior Alyssa Oram (Chebogyan/Home Schooled) in 14th (22:14) and senior Rebekah Folkema (Renfrew, ON/Renfrew Collegiate Institute) in 27th (22:39).
By finishing in the top-35, Vince, Michmerhuizen, Penning, Oram and Folkema all receive Great Lakes All-Region honors.
Calvin junior Sarah Danner (Watkins Glen, NY/Charles Dickerson HS) just missed all-region honors, finishing 40th in a time of 22:56 while junior Kate Ardinger (Elmhurst, IL/Timothy Christian HS) was close behind in 44th (23:04).
"We had a really outstanding performance," said Calvin head cross country coach Brian Diemer. "This team has battled through injuries and illness and still found a way to compete at a high level. Cassie Vince was terrific and I thought Nicole Michmerhuizen ran her best race of the season. Kimby Penning was outstanding again as was Alyssa Oram and Rebekah Folkema. Sarah Danner and Kate Ardinger also gave our team solid depth."
According to Diemer, the Knights are are also excited about making their 24th appearance at the NCAA III Championships which ranks third all-time in NCAA III women's cross ocuntry history. "We are excited to be going back to nationals," said Diemer. "This team continues to improve and we are looking forward to seeing what we can do next Saturday."
MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
The Calvin men's cross country team was looking to extend its regional title streak to 18 straight on Saturday morning as the regional meet was held at the Gainey Athletic Complex.
The biggest threat to Calvin's streak would be the Little Giants of Wabash College. Calvin came into the meet ranked 18th nationally while Wabash was 20th, and coincidentally, Wabash was the last school other than Calvin to win the Great Lakes region.
Calvin looked to run as a pack in the men's race. Out of the gate, freshman Zac Nowicki (Comstock Park/Calvin Christian HS) was hanging with the top pack while Calvin's other six runners, senior Sam Kerk (Hartland, WI/Lake Country Lutheran HS), senior Philip Spitzer (Buckley/Buckley HS), junior Josh Ferguson (Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley HS), junior Steven Haagsma (Grandville/Calvin Christian HS), sophomore Jeff Meitler (New Berlin, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran HS, and freshman Nathan VanHaitsma (Olympia, WA/Olympia HS), looked to follow closely behind.
Just over halfway into the race, MIAA Champion and most valuable runner Paul Lewis of Albion took the lead.
Lewis held the lead for the remainder of the race, claiming the top spot with a time of 25:10.0. A
Wabash runner then came in second, and two more Little Giants crossed the line before the first Knight.
A pack of five Calvin runners then finished, but Wabash's fourth and fifth runners were also in the mix. After the results had been sorted out, Calvin's streak of 17 regional titles did end as the Knights fell to Wabash. As a team, Wabash totaled 60 points while the Knights finished with 79.
Calvin ran a strong pack race, and the top five Knights runners finished within seven places.
Ferguson was the first to cross the line for Calvin, taking 13th in 25:36.9. Nowicki followed closely behind, taking 14th overall in 25:37.0. Philip Spitzer and Jeff Meitler then crossed in 16th and 17th in times of 25:39.1 and 25:40.6, respectively. Kerk rounded out the top five finishers for the Knights, taking 19th in 25:42.5. Haagsma, Calvin's sixth finisher, placed 23rd in a time of 25:55.0. Van Haitsma rounded out Calvin's finishers, placing 47th in 26:18. Calvin's top six finishers all earned Great Lakes All-Region honors by finishing in the top 35.
Finishing second as a team, Calvin earned an automatic berth to the National Meet next weekend.
"This team has really developed this year. We didn't win regionals but we've come a long way since the beginning of the season," said head coach Brian Diemer. "And we're not done, we have a few things that we can tweak for next week at Nationals. I'm proud of these guys and we're going to keep on developing."
"The hard part is to lose the race on your home turf, but the guys didn't run bad. We had six finishers in the top 23," said assistant coach Al Hoekstra. "Hats off to Wabash. We made some mistakes today, but each week we're running better and better as a team. We tweak that just a little bit more, and I'm still hoping we can get that top 10 or top 15 finish nationally."
The National Meet will be run at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana on Saturday.
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
The Calvin men's and women's swimming and diving teams defeated Olivet in dual meet action on Saturday. In the women's meet, Calvin defeated Olivet 199-68. In the men's meet, Calvin defeated Olivet 161-111.
A full meet report will be sent out later this weekend.
Received on Sat Nov 16 23:49:40 2013
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