CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR OCTOBER 7, 2014
Men's Basketball Ranked 15th by DIII News - Jordan Brink Named Preseason All-American;
Women's Basketball Ranked 17th by WDIII News - Breanna Verkaik Named Preseason Hon. Mention All-American
MEN'S GOLF
BATTLE CREEK - For the third consecutive year, the Calvin men's golf team has secured a spot in the MIAA's four-team NCAA III spring qualifying tournament.
Calvin posted a second place team score of 299 strokes at the final MIAA Jamboree of the league's fall season campaign. In doing so, the Knights clinched third place in the final regular season standings and garnered one of the four team spots for the 54-hole spring tournament.
Hope repeated as league champion by a five-stroke margin over Trine. Calvin finished 24 strokes back of Trine and 46 strokes ahead of fourth place Adrian.
Calvin finished with an eight-round league tournament average of 302.2 strokes-per-round, marking the second-best team average for a fall league season in school history, surpassed only by the average of 301.4 established by its 2010 MIAA championship squad.
In Tuesday's MIAA Jamboree hosted by Olivet at the Bedford Valley Country Club, Calvin was paced by senior James Van Noord (Troy/Troy Athens HS) who had his top round of the season with a 72, finishing second individually.
Freshman Ben Van Scoyk (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) was right behind with a round of 73 that was good for a tie for third place individually. Junior Justin Crow (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) finished tied for sixth with a round of 75 while freshman John Van Noord (Troy/Oakland Christian HS) had a 79 and junior Jason Zeigler (Mount Gilead, OH/Gilead Christian HS) had an 83.
Collin Breit of Hope claimed medalist honors for the tournament.
At the conclusion of Tuesday's competition, a pair of Calvin golfers received All-MIAA honors as freshman John Van Noord was named to the All-MIAA first team and freshman Ben VanScoyk named to the All-MIAA second team. Van Noord finished second in the final MIAA individual standings, placing just two strokes out of first place. VanScoyk meanwhile finished in seventh place in the final MIAA individual standings.
MIAA JAMBOREE #8 TEAM SCORES
Trine 297
Calvin 299
Hope 302
Adrian 312
Kalamazoo 317
Olivet 321
Albion 322
Alma 357
FINAL MIAA MEN'S GOLF FALL STANDINGS
Hope 2389
Trine 2394
Calvin 2418
Adrian 2464
Kalamazoo 2496
Albion 2532
Olivet 2616
Alma 2916
MEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 3, Olivet 1
By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin men's soccer team traveled to Olivet on Tuesday afternoon for an afternoon conference clash.
Ranked 12th in the latest NSCAA Division III Top 25 poll and 15th in the most-recent D3soccer.com Top 25 poll, the Knights entered in first place in the MIAA at 6-0 while the Comets were in fifth at 3-3. Despite giving up a quick goal to Olivet, Calvin responded with three goals to earn a 3-1 win and its seventh conference win by multiple goals this season in seven attempts.
Coupled with a 3-1 Kalamazoo victory over Hope Tuesday night, Calvin opens up a six-point lead over Hope in the MIAA standings.
Olivet came out early and scored a goal just three minutes into the contest, as Cory Werner-Hoskins buried the ball in the back of the net for a 1-0 Olivet lead.
Just ten minutes later, the Knights answered back. Receiving a pass from sophomore Isky Van Doorne (Calgary, AB/Western Canada HS), senior Travis Vegter (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) beat the Comets keeper to knot the game at 1-1.
In the 27th minute, Calvin took the lead. For the second game in a row, junior Nick Groenewold (Oak Brook, IL/Timothy Christian HS) stepped up to take a penalty kick and converted from the spot, giving the Knights a 2-1 edge.
Some inclement weather then put the game into a weather delay, which lasted more than an hour.
The teams then returned to the field to complete the first half, with the Knights holding the one goal advantage until halftime.
At half, Calvin held an 8-4 shots advantage. The first half also proved to be rather chippy, as 20 total fouls were called in the opening period.
Out of the break, the Knights extended their lead in the 56th minute. Already on the score sheet with an assist, Van Doorne added a goal to his game tally as he gave Calvin a 3-1 lead.
Over the remaining half hour, Calvin allowed just one shot on goal as the Knights closed out the two-goal victory.
Calvin outshot Olivet 10-7 for the game. Junior Niko Giantsopoulos (Markham, ON/St. Augustine Catholic HS) made four saves in net for the Knights.
"We came out a little bit flat. We made a couple late steps, they made some great runs and had a great finish (on the opening goal)," said head coach Ryan Souders. "We were opportunistic. With the weather break and the field becoming mushy and soggy, it wasn't pretty soccer by either team, but we were able to do what we needed to on our end and take care of business on the defensive end to get three points."
The Knights complete the first half of their conference schedule 7-0 in the MIAA and 10-2 overall, while Olivet falls to 5-8 overall and 3-4 in league play. Calvin's ten wins marks 17 straight seasons that the Knights have recorded double-digit wins.
Calvin now looks forward to Saturday when it faces Alma at 2:30 p.m at Zuidema Field.
NSCAA III Division III Top 25 Poll: http://www.nscaatv.com/rankings/3554/NCAADivisionIII/men/Poll6
D3soccer.com Top 25 Poll: http://d3soccer.com/top25/men/2014/week6
VOLLEYBALL
The Calvin women's volleyball team has moved up a spot in the latest AVCA Division III Top 25 poll. The Knights are ranked fourth in this week's poll.
The Knights are also ranked highly in the latest set of NCAA III statistics. As a team, Calvin is ranked 3rd in hitting percentage (.290) and ninth in kills-per-set (13.68).
Individually, sophomore Laura Danhoff (Willard, OH/Willard HS) is ranked seventh in hitting percentage (.393), freshman setter Jenna Lodewyk (Villa Park, IL/Timothy Christian HS) 12th in assists-per-game (10.67) and junior Maggie Kamp (Orland Park, IL/Chicago Christian HS) 16th in kills-per-set (4.21).
AVCA Division III Top 25 Poll: http://www.avca.org/divisions/division-three-women/poll-10-7-14/
MEN'S BASKETBALL
The preseason issue of the Division III Newsletter for men's basketball has been released and the publication has Calvin ranked 15th in its preseason Top 25 poll. In addition, senior guard Jordan Brink (Dyer, IN/Illiana Christian HS) has been named a preseason Division III All-American by the publication.
A year ago, Calvin finished 24-6 overall and in second place in the MIAA regular season standings. Calvin then captured the MIAA Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA III Tournament for the third consecutive year. In the NCAA III Tournament, Calvin reached the Sweet 16 round, defeating Wittenberg University and Washington University of St. Louis along the way. The Knights were eventually defeated by NCAA III Final Four participant Illinois Wesleyan.
Calvin will open practice on October 15. The Knights are expected to return nine letterwinners including three players in Brink, junior Jordan Daley (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) and Tyler Dykstra (Holland/Holland Christian HS) that were full-time starters a year ago. Brink was a member of the 2013-14 All-MIAA first team while Dykstra was a member of the All-MIAA second team. Brink was also named to the D3hoops.com Great Lakes All-Region third team.
Brink averaged a team-best 15.6 points a game last year highlighted by a 27-point, 11-rebound performance in a second round NCAA III Tournament victory over Washington University of St. Louis.
Earlier this fall, Brink was named a preseason honorable mention All-American by The Sporting News.
Calvin is scheduled to officially open its season on November 15 when it hosts Anderson University at 3 p.m. at Van Noord Arena. Prior to that, the Knights will also travel to Ferris State University on November 8 for an exhibition game slated to start in Big Rapids at 3:30 p.m.
DIII NEWS TOP 25 PRESEASON POLL
1. Wis. Whitewater
2. 2. Ill. Wesleyan
3. 3. Amherst
4. 4. Wooster
5. 5. Cabrini
6. 6. Washington (Mo.)
7. 7. Scranton
8. 8. WPI
9. 9. St. Thomas
10. 10. Dickinson
11. 11. Albertus Magnus
12. 12. Emory
13. 13. Augustana
14. 14. Williams
15. 15. Calvin
16. 16. Wis. Stevens Point
17. 17. Va. Wesleyan
18. 18. Purchase
19. 19. R.I. College
20. 20. Richard Stockton
21. 21. Wheaton (IL)
22. 22. Centre
23. 23. Whitworth
24. 24. MIT
25. 25. E. Connecticut
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The preseason issue of the Women's Basketball Division III Newsletter has been released and the publication has Calvin ranked 17th in its preseason Top 25 poll. In addition, senior forward Breanna Verkaik (Holland/Holland Christian HS) has been named a preseason Division III Honorable Mention All-American by the publication.
A year ago, Calvin finished 19-8 overall and in third place in the MIAA regular season standings. Calvin then advanced to the MIAA Tournament finals before falling to rival Hope in the title tilt.
Calvin will open practice on October 15. The Knights are expected to return 12 letterwinners including three players in Verkaik, senior Kayla Engelhard (Unionville/Saginaw Valley Lutheran HS) and senior Maria DeKuiper (Bradenton, FL/Bradenton Christian HS) that were full-time starters a year ago. Verkaik was a member of the 2013-14 All-MIAA first team while Engelhard was a member of the All-MIAA second team. Verkaik was also named to the D3hoops.com Great Lakes All-Region third team.
Verkaik averaged a team-best 15.3 points a game last year highlighted by a 28-point, 15-rebound performance in the MIAA Tournament semifinals at Olivet last February.
Calvin is scheduled to open its season on November 15 when it hosts Lakeland College at Van Noord Arena at 1 p.m. Prior to that, the Knights will host Saginaw Valley State in an exhibition game on November 8 at noon.
2014 WDIIIN Preseason Top 25
1. FDU-Florham
2. Tufts
3. Thomas More
4. Hope
5. Whitman
6. Montclair St.
7. Wis. Whitewater
8. Amherst
9. DePauw
10. Washington (Mo.)
11. Scranton
12. Wis. Oshkosh
13. Texas-Tyler
14. George Fox
15. Ithaca
16. Randolph-Macon
17. Calvin
18. St. Mary's (MN)
19. Plattsburgh St.
20. Southern Maine
21. Transylvania
22. Chris. Newport
23. Castleton
24. Wheaton (Ill.)
25. St. Thomas (MN
Received on Tue Oct 7 23:38:54 2014
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