CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 22, 2013
Volleyball Advances to National Final Against Cal-Lutheran;
Men's Baskeball Defeats Kuyper in Tip-off Tournament;
Women's Basketball Defeats Ohio Wesleyan in B-W Tourney;
Travis Vegter Named Capital One Academic All-American
VOLLEYBALL
By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin women's volleyball national semifinal matchup on Friday provided fans with a rematch of the 2010 National Championship between the Knights and the Eagles of Emory University. Calvin defeated Emory in four sets in 2010.
On Friday, the Knights again defeated the Eagles, this time in three sets at 25-17, 25-21, 25-22. With the win, Calvin advances to the national championship final for the third time four years. Calvin will face #3 Cal Lutheran in the national championship final at 7 p.m. at Hope's DeVos Fieldhouse. Cal Lutheran defeated Wisconsin-Stevens Point 26-24, 25-19, 25-16 in Friday's second semifinal.
Tickets will be on sale at Calvin's Van Noord Arena box office 9am-1pm on Saturday with student tickets on sale from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Van Noord Arena Box Office.
In the first set against Emory Friday, the teams were tied at 10-10 before a 4-0 run gave the Knights a 14-10 advantage. Calvin then took a 19-14 lead on a kill from freshman Laura Danhoff which forced the Eagles into a timeout.
The Knights continued to hold the lead and closed out the first set with a solo block by junior Emily Crowe, claiming the 25-17 victory.
Calvin hit .400 in the opening set while also playing strong defense, recording three blocks.
The second set saw Calvin take an early lead before the Eagles knotted the set at 11-11 on three straight points.
The Knights then took their largest lead of the set at 21-16 after a pair of kills from sophomore Maggie Kamp. After an Emory timeout, Calvin closed out the second set 25-21.
Kamp tallied seven kills in the second set while the Knights dug out 25 attacks as a team.
The third set was played very closely. Both teams saw two point leads early, Emory at 6-4 and Calvin at 13-11. The Knights again took a two point advantage at 24-22, and with a service ace from sophomore Jamie Kooiman, earned a 25-22 third set victory and the three set sweep.
Calvin advances to the National Championship for the second straight year with the victory.
Kamp led the Knights on offense with 20 kills at a hitting percentage of .447 while adding nine digs. Senior Megan Rietema had 29 assists, 10 digs, and eight kills, while senior Kristen Zietse led Calvin with 13 digs.
"I thought our back row allowed our star players to be stars," said head coach Amber Warners. "We're continually telling them to never give up on the ball because I don't think they always believe how good and fast they can be. A lot of times they get unnoticed but they kept us in system the entire match, and I thought that was key."
"This is something that we've worked for all season," said Rietema on a chance to return to the National Championship. "It is really exciting to have this opportunity - this is where all the teams that played this year wanted to be."
Emory was led by freshman Jessica Holler with nine kills, while Cat McGrath added eight. Miles dished out 26 assists.
"(Calvin) came out firing on all cylinders," Emory coach Jenny McDowell said. "I thought our net play was really good. We had a difficult time on our back row. We just weren't passing very well. That had a lot to do with Calvin serving us tough."
Calvin is now 34-1 while Emory ends its season at 34-5.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 105, Kuyper 86
Calvin improved to 2-0 on the year with a 105-86 victory over Kuyper College in the first round of the Calvin Tip-off Tournament Friday night at Van Noord Arena. Calvin will face the College of Faith (3-2) in the championship game on Saturday at 3 p.m. College of Faith defeated Grace Bible College 86-81 in Friday's opening first round game.
In its win over Kuyper (5-3), Calvin started off slow, trailing 9-0 early but the Knights then mounted a 20-6 scoring run to build a 20-15 lead. Calvin then closed the half on a 29-17 run to build a 51-36 advantage at halftime.
In the second half, Calvin led by as many as 23 points in the up-and-down affair before settling on a 19-point final margin of victory.
Five Calvin players notched double-digits in scoring led by senior Mickey DeVries with 23 points. Sophomore Jordan Daley had a career-high 17 points to go with a career-high six assists while junior Jordan Brink had 15 points and senior Tyler Kruis 14 points. Sophomore Austin Parks also chipped in with a career-high 13 points including three field goals from beyond the three-point arc.
Calvin shot 60.3 percent from the field but allowed Kuyper to shoot 50.9 percent from the floor. Kuyper was led in scoring by Kyle Hoek with 24 points.
"We did not have much trouble with our offense tonight," said Calvin men's basketball coach Kevin Vande Streek. -"We were able to get the ball inside and with the new rule emphasis of no contact, it is tough to defend when a player is close to the rim. I thought we took advantage of that."
Vande Streek was not happy with Calvin's defensive effort however. "It was a very disappointing effort defensively on our part," he said. We weren't ready at the start and we didn't play very smart on defense. We have a long way to go there (on defense). It is something we need to get better at."
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 70, Ohio Wesleyan 60
By Mark DeHaan
BEREA, OH - The Calvin women's basketball team continued early season non-conference play on Friday evening, traveling to Ohio to take part in the Baldwin-Wallace Invitational this weekend. Calvin came out on top in a first round matchup Friday night, defeating Ohio Wesleyan 70-60.
The Knights faced the Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan in their first game of the weekend.
Calvin jumped out to an early 14-3 lead as junior Kayla Engelhard had eight early points, hitting a pair of three-pointers.
The Bishops then cut Calvin's lead to five at 16-12 before a three-pointer by junior Breanna Verkaik extended the Knights lead to 19:12 with 9:07 remaining in the opening half.
Calvin continued to pull away until the Knights held a 35-22 advantage by the end of the first half.
Ohio Wesleyan then jumped on the Knights at the beginning of the second half, fighting back to within two at 41-39 with 13:27 remaining in the game.
Calvin pushed its lead back up to nine at 48-39 with 9:35 left on a layup by junior Hannah Acre.
The Battle Bishops again fought back, cutting the Knights advantage to 56-50 with less than five minutes to play. Calvin responded with a quick layup, and Ohio Wesleyan would come no closer as the Knights took control down the stretch en route to a 70-60 victory.
Verkaik led the Knights with 16 points and seven rebounds. Engelhard added 15 points while Acre had 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting to go with five boards.
"Ohio Wesleyan really played their tails off. They did a nice job with their press on defense and caused a lot of fits for us," said head coach John Ross. "Fortunately we had a nice run at the end of the first half and also midway through the second half and a lot of our key players stepped up. Ohio Wesleyan gave us everything they had and we had to play down to the wire, so you have to give them a lot of credit for the effort they had tonight."
The Knights, now 2-1, will play host Baldwin-Wallace tomorrow in the championship game at 4 p.m.
MEN'S SOCCER
Calvin College junior Travis Vegter has added another prestigious honor to his growing raft of awards.
A native of Hudsonville and a graduate of Hudsonville Unity Christian High School, Vegter has been named a first team Capital One Academic All-American for Division III men's soccer as selected by the College Sports Information Director's Association of America (CoSIDA).
Vegter is the fourth individual in Calvin men's soccer history to be named a Capital One Academic All-American. Others to do so include Sam Glass (1997), Will Watts (1997), Joel Veldhouse (2003 & 2004) and Greg Snapper (2009).
A biology major with a 3.41 G.P.A, Vegter was named the MIAA's Most Valuable Player and earned first-team All-MIAA honors for Calvin. A native of Hudsonville, Mich., he led No. 25 Calvin to a 14-5-1 record. Vegter led the MIAA with 60 points as he scored 27 goals with six assists for the Knights. His point and goal totals are the second highest marks in Calvin school history.
Vegter currently has career totals of 44 goals, 16 assists and 104 points. He is ranked fourth on the Calvin career list in goals and fifth on the Calvin career list in points.
During the season, he was named the Division III National Player of the Week of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
The Capital One Division III Academic All-America(r) program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2013-14 D-III Academic All-America(r) teams program.
Received on Fri Nov 22 23:12:24 2013
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