CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR SEPT. 20, 2014
Volleyball Defeated by Hope In Rivalry Showdown;
Men's Soccer Shuts Out Kalamazoo - Extends Win Streak to Four;
Women's Soccer Snaps Losing Skid With Win at Albion;
Women's Tennis Competes at ITA Central Region Championships
VOLLEYBALL
Hope 3, Calvin 0
HOLLAND - In a meeting of top-four nationally-ranked teams, Hope claimed victory over Calvin in the first meeting of the year between the two long-time rivals. Ranked number-one in the country, Hope defeated Calvin 25-21, 25-22, 25-22.
Ranked fourth nationally, Calvin falls to 13-3 overall and 5-1 in the MIAA while Hope is now 10-0 overall and 6-0 in the MIAA.
Calvin hit just .160 as a team in the loss while Hope hit at a .233 clip.
Calvin held leads in two of the three sets but was unable to get over the hump against an energized Hope squad.
"I thought it was a well-fought match today," said Calvin women's volleyball coach Amber Warners. "I thought Hope played very well and played a little bit better than we did. We made a few too many mistakes and I think a credit to that has to go to Hope."
In set one, Calvin led 11-8 and then trailed just 19-17 but Hope was able to score six of the final 10 points to seal a 25-21 one.
Calvin led 10-5 and later 19-18 but Hope used a late 4-0 spurt to claim the 25-22 victory.
In set three, Calvin held a 21-20 lead only to see Hope reel off a 5-1 scoring run to close out the set and the match.
"I think in the third set we started to serve a little more aggressively but I think Hope was able to stay in system more than we did and that's to their credit," said Warners. "I think Hope is a more polished team than we are right now. We have a very athletic team but we need to cut down on some of our unforced errors. Cutting down on unforced errors is definitely something that our team will be working on."
Calvin was led offensively by senior Ellie Diepersloot (Madera, CA/Chowchilla HS) who tallied 12 kills and a hitting percentage of .300. Junior Maggie Kamp (Orland Park, IL/Chicago Christian HS) had eight kills and 10 digs while sophomore Laura Danhoff had eight kills and a pair of block assists. Senior Elise Biesboer (Elmhurst, IL/Timothy Christian HS) had 11 digs and a pair of service aces while freshman setter Jenna Lodewyk (Villa Park, IL/Timothy Christian HS) hgad 28 assists and eight digs.
Hope was led by Jenna Grameyer with 14 kills and 11 digs while setter Lauren Hazekamp had 35 assists and 12 digs. Libero Allie Mitchell also added 21 digs, six assists and three service aces.
Calvin returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to Alma for an MIAA match.
MEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 3, Kalamazoo 0
By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin men's soccer team hosted Kalamazoo College for it's home opener of the conference season on Saturday afternoon.
Outshooting the visitors 18-5, the Knights pressured the Hornets all game long en route to a 3-0 victory at Zuidema Field.
In the opening ten minutes, senior Travis Vegter (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) led the offensive pressure with a pair of shots on goal, one of which hit the crossbar and ricocheted out of bounds.
The Knights then got on the scoreboard in the 23rd minute. Controlling the ball on the endline, Vegter found sophomore Isky Van Doorne (Calgary, AB/Western Canada HS) in the center of the box who slotted the ball into the bottom left corner of the net for the opening goal.
A minute later, a penalty kick opportunity for the Knights was shot over the crossbar by sophomore Stephan Hooker (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS).
Despite the miss from the spot, Calvin did get an insurance goal later in the first half. A long ball was played forward from midfield to the top of the box, and headed on by freshman Micah Beard into the box to junior Taylor Pruis (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS). Pruis then took a step toward the endline and beat the Hornets keeper to the near post, blasting home the second goal of the game with a second remaining on the clock for a 2-0 Calvin advantage at half.
The Knights held an 11-2 edge in shots at half, four of which were on goal.
Out of the break, sophomore Hooker redeemed himself in the 63rd minute. Receiving a pass from Vegter, Hooker hit a curling shot which found the top right corner of the net to put the Knights comfortably ahead 3-0.
The Calvin defense then locked down the Kalamazoo offense by allowing just two shots in the final half hour of play, neither of which were on goal, as the Knights secured the 3-0 victory.
Calvin outshot the Hornets 18-5 for the game while also holding a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Junior goalkeeper Niko Giantsopolous (Markham, ON/St. Augustine Catholic HS) had two saves in recording his third shutout victory of the season.
"Kalamazoo is a really good team," said head coach Ryan Souders. "We talked about doing our job from the first minute, and it took us a couple minutes to get going, but then we moved the ball pretty well, created some chances, and got a great opening goal from Isky."
With the win, the Knights improve to 2-0 in conference and 5-2 overall while Kalamazoo falls to 2-3-2 overall and 0-2-1 in MIAA play.
Calvin now looks forward to Tuesday when it welcomes Hope College to Zuidema Field. Tuesday's contest is scheduled to kick-off at 4:00 p.m.
WOMEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 1, Albion 0
ALBION - Calvin snapped a six-game losing skid with a 1-0 MIAA victory at Albion Saturday afternoon.
The start of the game was delayed nearly three hours by weather but the Knights were able to outlast the storm to gain the win.
Sophomore Carly Veenstra (North Haledon, NJ/Eastern Christian HS) scored the only goal of the game, putting the ball in the net on an unassisted rush in the 53rd minute of play. The goal was the second of the year for Veenstra.
Meanwhile, Calvin's defense held strong, limiting the Britons to only four shots at goal. Freshman goalkeeper Jenna Shelton (Bloomfield Hills/Troy Intersect HS) collected four saves in gaining her first collegiate shutout victory.
Calvin is back in action next Wednesday when it travels to Adrian for a league match.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
KALAMAZOO - A group of Calvin women's tennis players competed at the ITA Central Region Championships at Kalamazoo College this weekend.
Highlights for the Calvin women included a 6-2, 6-1 win by senior Megan Visser (Kalamazoo/Kalamazoo Christian HS) in singles action while Visser and sophomore Claire Spoelhof (Holland/Holland Christian HS) teamed up for a win in doubles action and later advanced to the third round of play.
Complete results can be found online at: http://hornets.kzoo.edu/sports/wten/2014-15/2014-ITA
Received on Sat Sep 20 22:21:00 2014
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