CKSR (Sarah Danner Named MIAA Women's Track and Field Athlete of the Week/Women's Tennis Pulls Out Dramatic Win at Albion/Men's Lacrosse Battles Bulldogs)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR APRIL 8, 2015

Sarah Danner Named MIAA Women's Track Athlete of the Week;
Women's Tennis Pulls Out Dramatic Win at Albion;
Men's Lacrosse Battles Bulldogs

WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD - (Editor's Note - yesterday the biographical information of Sarah Danner's MIAA Women's Track and Field Athlete achievement was inadvertently omitted. The following is that information)

FREELAND, Mich. - The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association has named Calvin's Sarah Danner (women) its Track Athlete of the Week for meets through April 5.

Calvin's Sarah Danner, a senior from Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Charles Dickerson HS), won the 5,000 meter run at the DePauw Invitational in 17:39.88, best among MIAA women's runners this season and ninth in the nation. It's the first time this season and second time in her career Danner has been named Athlete of the Week.

Calvin is back in action on Saturday when it competes at the MIAA Jamboree hosted by Adrian College.

WOMEN'S TENNIS
Calvin 5, Albion 4

ALBION - Calvin picked up its first victory over Albion since 2010 and did so in dramatic fashion Wednesday evening, defeating the Britons 5-4.

Calvin claimed two of the three doubles points, saving a match point in one of the victories, and then pulled out a win in the final singles match of the evening to claim the one-point victory.

Calvin improves to 7-6 overall and to 2-1 in the MIAA with the triumph.

"This was a match we were pointing towards," said Calvin head women's tennis coach Kevin VanHaitsma. "Our goal is to gain one of the top four spots to get in the league tournament. In order to get to that goal, we knew that we had to go through Albion."

Both teams claimed quick doubles points with Albion winning 8-1 at one doubles while Calvin's duo of freshman Kari Kroeze and sophomore Liz Turner won 8-3 at three doubles. The crucial match came at two doubles however as sophomore Ellie Benzel and freshman Jessica Bouma pulled out a thrilling 9-8 win, fighting off a match point to stay alive and eventually claim victory. That doubles point gave Calvin a 2-1 led heading into singles play.

Doubles play took place outdoors but with darkness and windy weather approaching, singles play was moved indoors to Albion's Ungrodt Tennis Center.

Albion claimed victories at one, two and three singles with the second flight going to a third set tiebreaker.

Calvin came up with a 6-3, 6-0 win by Bouma at four singles and senior Ali Roode was a 6-0, 6-3 winner at five singles.

With the score tied 4-4, the match came down to Kroeze at six singles facing up against Albion's Jessica Scott. Kroeze delivered, winning 7-5, 6-1 to give the Knights the thrilling win.

"Getting the two doubles points was huge," said VanHaitsma. "Anytime you have a close match, it's difficult to win on singles alone and our doubles play proved to be a key in this match. I'm extremely proud of this team. Our players battled from start-to-finish and continued to root on their teammates. It was a very satisfying team win."

Calvin will now prepare for another key conference match as the Knights journey to Saint Mary's on Saturday for a 1 p.m. conference tilt.

MEN'S LACROSSE
Adrian 15, Calvin 4

By Mark DeHaan

The Knights welcomed the Bulldogs of Adrian to Zuidema Field for a mid-week conference contest on Wednesday.

Calvin tallied the opening two goals of the game, and had a 2-1 lead after the first quarter, but Adrian responded by outscoring the Knights 8-0 in the second period to take a lead the Bulldogs would not relinquish. Adrian defeated Calvin by a final score of 15-4.

Knights freshman Tyson Butler opened up the scoring less than two minutes in. Sophomore Chris Griffin added another just 23 seconds later, and Calvin got off to a quick start.

Adrian scored its first goal with 3:38 remaining in the first quarter, and Calvin's lead stood at 2-1 as the teams headed into the quarter break.

In the second, the Bulldogs scored two goals in the opening two minutes to take a 3-2 lead.

Adrian continued to hold the Knights scoreless in the quarter while adding six more goals, and the visitors held a 9-2 lead at halftime.

The Bulldogs outshot Calvin 20-6 in the opening half. The Knights, after going 4-for-4 on face offs in the first quarter, were 1-for-9 in the second. Calvin also completed just 4-of-9 clear attempts in the first half.

Out of the break, Adrian added two more goals before Knights senior Jonathon VanderLaan found the back of the net, bringing the score to 11-3.

After a Bulldog goal to end the third, freshman Derek VanderBrug found the back of the net at the beginning of the fourth for Calvin.

Adrian then netted the final two goals of the game to down the Knights by a 15-4 final score.

The Bulldogs outshot Calvin 47-19 for the game, also holding a 39-27 ground ball advantage by game's end. Adrian won 16-of-23 face offs.

Individually for the Knights, Griffin had a goal and an assist. Senior Luke Bosscher and freshman Ethan Brown tied for the team lead with four ground balls.

Sophomore goalkeeper Mitchell Alexander made 15 saves for Calvin.

"I think we started off good and had a great first quarter, but we just have to put together a full 60-minute game," said head coach Kyle Hofstaedter. "Letting up eight goals really hurt in the second quarter, and after that I thought we played pretty even with them. Our clearing game could get a lot better, but the boys played hard and we're on to the next one."

Calvin moves to 2-9 overall and 0-2 in the MIAA with the loss, while Adrian improves to 7-4 and 2-1 in conference play.

The Knights return to action on Saturday when they travel to Albion. The weekend matchup is scheduled to start at noon.
Received on Wed Apr 8 23:05:48 2015