CKSR (Volleyball Opens NCAA III Tournament With First Round Win Over Cornell / Volleyball Players Receive All-Region Honors / Warners Named Great Lakes Regional Coach of the Year)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 12, 2015

Volleyball Opens NCAA III Tournament With First Round Win Over Cornell College;
Volleyball Players Receive Great Lakes Regional Honors / Warners Named Great Lakes Regional Coach of the Year

NCAA III TOURNAMENT VOLLEYBALL

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Calvin volleyball team opened the NCAA Tournament defeating the Cornell College Rams, 3-0. The Knights swept the Rams, 25-18, 25-22 and 25-21. The win improves Calvin to 29-3 on the year and Cornell finishes at 15-15.
"I would first like to tell Jeff Meeker and Cornell that they played a great match," said head coach Amber Warners. "I Thought they were incredible on defense, they didn't back down, they have some great hitters, so we are giving credit for how they played us."
The Knights jumped on the Rams early in the first set, forcing Cornell to call a timeout at the 8-3 mark of the set. The Knights would not look back from there and would go on to take the set, 25-18. Calvin hit .353 in the set, led by junior Laura Danhoff (Willard, Ohio/Willard) with five kills.
In the second set, sophomore Jenna Lodewyk (Villa Park, Ill./Timothy Christian) snuck the ball over the net for a kill to give Calvin a 4-3 lead. The serve of Lodewyk would extend the Calvin lead to 7-3. Cornell would chip away the Calvin lead to tie the set at 12 and then take a 14-13 lead. The two teams would go on to exchange punches until senior Rachel Lubben (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) gave the Knights a 17-16 lead. Calvin would go on a 3-1 run behind the serve of senior Jamie Kooiman (Eugene, Ore./South Eugene) to give Calvin a 20-17 lead. Senior Maggie Kamp (Orland Park, Ill./Chicago Christian) would finish the set with a kill from Lodewyk at 25-22.
The Rams took an early 9-6 lead in the third set and would extend the lead to 16-9. Calvin would cut the lead to 16-12 behind the serve of Kristen Vyletel (Ann Arbor, Mich./Ann Arbor Huron). The Rams would extend the lead to 19-12 before Calvin would go on a 13-2 run to finish the set. The serve of freshman Keilahna Castillo (Grandville, Mich./Grandville) cut the lead to 19-15. Trailing 21-17, the serve of sophomore Emily Blankespoor (Grand Rapids, Mich./South Christian) helped push the Knights forward and take the next eight points, including an ace to make it 24-21. Maggie Kamp would put the match away with a kill, to take the set, 25-21.
Maggie Kamp led the Knights with 15 kills on Thursday, Laura Danhoff had 10 kills on the evening. Jenna Lodewyk tallied 31 assists in the win. Keilahna Castillo had a team-high 14 digs.
Calvin will host Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the second round of the Division III NCAA Tournament on Friday. The match is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. at Van Noord Arena.

VOLLEYBALL

Four members of the Calvin women's volleyball team have received Division III Great Lakes Regional honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association of America.

Named to the AVCA Great Lakes All-Region team from Calvin are senior Maggie Kamp, junior Laura Danhoff and sophomore Jenna Lodewyk. Freshman Keilahna Castillo has been named to the AVCA Great Lakes Honorable Mention All-Region list and has been named the AVCA Division III Great Lakes Region Freshman of the Year.

A native of Orland Park, Illinois, Kamp is receiving all-region honors for the third consecutive year. An outside hitter out of Chicago Christian High School, Kamp has hit at a .281 clip this year while averaging 4.01 kills and 2.11 digs-per-set while amassing 30 service aces. She was named to all-tournament teams at the Emory National Invitational and to the Calvin Midwest Invitational. She was also a three-time MIAA Player of the Week and was named the MIAA's Most Valuable Player. In addition, she landed a spot on the All-MIAA first team for the third consecutive year.

Danhoff is from Willard, Ohio. She is a graduate of Willard High School. She is receiving all-region honors for the second consecutive year. A middle-blocker, Danhoff has been hitting at a .356 clip which ranks 28th nationally. She also has 68 service aces which ranks 25th nationally. She is also averaging 1.22 digs-per-set and is averaging a team-leading 0.71 blocks-per-set. She has been named MIAA Player of the Week twice this year and was named to the all-tournament team of the Calvin Labor Day Weekend Invitational. She was recently named to the All-MIAA first team for the second straight year.

Lodewyk is from Villa Park, Illinois. She is a graduate of Timothy Christian High School. A setter, Lodewyk is averaging 10.48 assists-per-set which ranks her 21st nationally. She also has 41 service aces this season and is averaging 2.02 digs-per-set and 1.08 kills-per-set while hitting at a .317 clip. She has been a two-time MIAA Specialty Player of the Week this fall and was named to the all-tournament team at the Calvin Labor Day Weekend Invitational. She was recently named to the All-MIAA first team for the second straight year.

A native of Grandville and a graduate of Grandville High School, Castillo has served as Calvin's starting libero this fall. It marks the third onsecutive year and the fifth time in the last eight years that a Calvin volleyball player has been named the AVCA Division III Great Lakes Regional Freshman of the Year. Castillo averages 4.09 digs-per-set and has 43 service aces on the season. She was recently named to the All-MIAA second team and was named MIAA Specialty Player of the Week after helping Calvin capture the 2015 MIAA Tournament title.

Calvin is currently 28-3 overall and recently captured the MIAA regular season and MIAA Tournament crowns. The Knights l are currently hosting an NCAA III Regional at Van Noord Arena.

MORE VOLLEYBALL

For the sixth time in her career, Calvin College head volleyball coach Amber Warners has been named the AVCA Division III Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year.

Now in her 14th year at Calvin and 15th year as a collegiate head women's volleyball coach, Warners helped lead Calvin to its sixth consecutive MIAA regular season title including the 10th under her watch as the Knights went 16-0 in league play. Calvin then captured the MIAA Tournament title last weekend with victories over Trine and Hope.

She is currently leading the Calvin women's volleyball team in NCAA III Tournament play for the 12th consecutive year. She has helped lead the Knights to an overall record of 28-3 and a No. 4 ranking in the AVCA Division III Top 25 poll. The Knights have a current win streak of 19 matches.

Heading into NCAA III Tournament play, Warners has a career won-loss record of 442-79 (.845). She is 420-68 in 14 years at Calvin. Heading into the 2015 season, she was ranked second among active Division III coaches among winning percentage and 14th among all coaches at any NCAA (I, II or III) level.
Received on Thu Nov 12 23:04:51 2015