CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR OCT. 28, 2014
Volleyball Sweeps Alma on Senior Night - Takes Over Top Spot in National Rankings;
Women's Soccer Falls at Kalamazoo;
Men's Soccer Holds Steady in National Rankings
VOLLEYBALL
Calvin 3, Alma 0
By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin volleyball team returned to the top of the national polls on Monday after a four-set win over previous No. 1 Hope last week. In their first game atop the rankings, the Knights hosted the Scots of Alma College at VanNoord Arena on Tuesday night.
Tuesday night also saw Calvin honor its four seniors: Elise Biesboer (Elmhurst, IL/Timothy Christian HS), Emily Crowe (Granger, IN/Mishawawka Penn HS), Ellie Diepersloot (Madera, CA/Chowchilla HS), and Stacey Kamp (Orland Park, IL/Chicago Christian HS).
The Knights dominated the first set, but a strong second set from Alma required a comeback from the Maroon-and-Gold. Calvin then closed out the match in the third set, earning a 25-9, 25-17, 25-17 sweep.
The Knights jumped out to an early 7-2 lead behind a pair of kills from junior Maggie Kamp (Orland Park, IL/Chicago Christian HS). The Scots got a pair of points back to narrow the margin to 7-4, but Calvin's lead only grew from there. The Knights hit .591 in the opening set while holding Alma to -.077. Crowe tallied five kills to lead Calvin to a 25-9 set one win.
In the second set, the Scots came to life to take a 14-9 lead midway through the set, forcing a Knights timeout. Calvin responded with a 12-2 run behind strong serving from Biesboer and freshman Jenna Lodewyk (Villa Park, IL/Timothy Christian HS) to claim a 21-16 advantage. The Knights closed out the set 25-17.
In set three, Calvin got out to a much stronger start than in set two. Freshman Emily Blankespoor (Grand Rapids/South Christian HS) began the set with a five point service run to give the Knights an early lead. Calvin held that lead for the remainder of the set, and the closest Alma would get would be 11-5. Calvin completed the sweep with a 25-17 third-set victory.
Calvin hit an impressive .506 in the 25-9, 25-17, 25-17 win, while Alma was held to .100. The Knights forced the Scots in 16 hitting errors in the match.
Individually, Kamp led Calvin with 17 kills while Diepersloot and Crowe each contributed eight. Blankespoor paced the Knights with nine digs, while Lodewyk tallied 35 assists.
"We're at a critical time in the season, and if we shore up some things we haven't done well, we can take our game to another level," said head coach Amber Warners. "I feel like we're starting to know what makes us tick, what people need, and we're okay that it's different than last year. We've talked about our mentality all year long, about being aggressive, and I think they're embracing it."
Calvin improves to 24-3 overall and 14-1 in the MIAA, while Alma falls to 15-16 overall and 8-7 in league play.
The Knights now close out the conference season on Friday, when they travel to Olivet. First serve versus the Comets is set for 6:30 p.m.
MORE VOLLEYBALL
The Calvin women's volleyball team has returned to the top spot in the AVCA Division III Top 25 rankings. The Knights are ranked number-one in this week's poll with rival Hope second.
Calvin received 38 first place vote in this week's poll with Hope receiving 20. Cal Lutheran received three first place votes and is ranked third while fourth-ranked Wittenberg received one first place vote.
Calvin was ranked number-one for the first three national polls before Hope took over the top spot in week four.
The latest AVCA Division III Top 25 poll can be found at: http://www.avca.org/divisions/division-three-women/poll-10-28-14/
WOMEN'S SOCCER
Kalamazoo 2, Calvin 1
KALAMAZOO - The Calvin women's soccer team could not make a halftime lead hold up as the Hornets of Kalamazoo College scored a pair of second half goals to record a 2-1 win over the Knights Tuesday evening.
Calvin (6-9-2 overall, 5-7-2 MIAA) took a 1-0 halftime lead on a first half goal by sophomore Carly Veenstra (North Haledon, NJ/Eastern Christian HS) off an assist from junior Paige Capel (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS). The goal by Veenstra came in the 20th minute of play and was her fifth of the year.
Kalamazoo (13-3-1 overall, 10-3-1 MIAA) began to press for the equalizer in the second half however and broke through in the 55th minute on an unassisted goal by Madison Moote.
The Hornets then grabbed the lead in the 74th minute as Madison Chilcote scored in the 74th minute.
Calvin was able to muster only one shot at goal the rest of the way as the Hornets claimed the win.
Kalamazoo finished the game with a 9-8 shots at goal advantage. Sophomore goalkeeper Emily Lawson (Westminster, CO/Pinnacle Charter HS) had two saves for Calvin in defeat.
The Knights return to action on Saturday, hosting Olivet at noon.
MEN'S SOCCER
The Calvin men's soccer team remains ranked in two national polls. For the second straight week, the Knights are ranked seventh in the NSCAA Division III Top 25 poll. Meanwhile Calvin has risen one spot in the D3soccer.com Top 25 poll to the number-six spot.
The NSCAA Division III Top 25 poll can be found online at: http://www.nscaatv.com/rankings/3794/NCAADivisionIII/men/Poll9
The D3soccer.com Top 25 poll can be found online at: http://d3soccer.com/top25/men/2014/week9
Received on Tue Oct 28 22:44:20 2014
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