CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR NOV. 10, 2016
Volleyball Advances in NCAA III Tournament With First Round Win Over Pitt-Bradford;
Volleyball Lands Five on AVCA Division III Great Lakes All-Region Teams;
Basketball Teams Set to Launch Seasons - Women Picked Third in Preseason Poll / Men Picked Fifth
VOLLEYBALL
Calvin 3, Pitt-Bradford 2
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - This weekend, Calvin is hosting an eight-team NCAA Division III volleyball regional. The regional will include teams from Bethany (W.Va.), Carnegie Mellon (Pa.), DePauw (Ind.), Millikin (Ill.), Ohio Norther, Pitt.-Bradford (Pa.) and Wittenberg (Ohio).
Making its 26th appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament, including its 13th straight under the direction of current head coach Dr. Amber Warners, the No. 2 Calvin women's volleyball team opened the tournament against the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford.
Backed by a .412 hitting percentage, the Knights swept the Panthers 25-10, 25-14, 25-17 to advance to the NCAA Division III regional semifinal round where they will face the DePauw University Tigers.
Coach Warners' has stayed true to her longstanding coaching philosophy of staying focused and not looking past any opponents. "I think we're doing a really good job staying in the present moment, even at every day at practice. It's something we're going to have to continue to do," she said.
The Knights, who entered the contest with a 27-1 record, captured the MIAA regular season title with a 16-0 conference record. Last Saturday, Calvin was handed its first loss of the year in the MIAA Tournament finals, falling in a competitive five-set match to rival Hope College.
The Panthers, making their second appearance in the NCAA III Tournament, entered the match at 25-5 overall and the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference champions at 9-0. Predicted to finish seventh in the conference preseason poll, Pitt-Bradford swept Penn State Altoona last Sunday to claim the program's second-ever AMCC championship and earn an automatic bid to the national tournament.
In the first set, the Knights utilized a diverse offensive attack to jump out to an early 10-4 lead, forcing a Pitt-Bradford timeout. Following the break, Pitt-Bradford's Rose Thacker put down a kill to bring her team within five, but the Knights responded with a 6-0 run behind the serve of sophomore All-MIAA first team honoree sophomore Anna Kamp (Orland Park, Ill./Chicago Christian HS) to make the score 16-5. The Panthers were unable to build any momentum, struggling to hit around the block of Calvin freshman Ally Fea (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg HS) and freshman Sarah DeVries (Grand Rapids, Mich./Northpointe Christian HS). With the scoreboard reading 21-9, Pitt-Bradford would call its second timeout of the set. However, the Knights would outscore the Panthers 4-1 to take a 25-10 victory. Calvin logged 16 kills, hitting .500 as a team.
The two teams went back-and-forth in scoring to start the first set. A three-point scoring sequence by the Knights, courtesy of a kill by DeVries, a solo block by senior Laura Danhoff (Willard, Ohio/Willard HS) and a service ace by sophomore Keilahna Castillo (Grandville, Mich./Grandville HS), would give the Knights a 9-5 advantage. The Panthers would side-out after a kill by Pitt-Bradford's Mandy Finch, but Danhoff quickly won back the point with a kill of her own. The Knights would go on to score six straight points, fueled by three service aces by junior Emily Blankespoor (Grand Rapids, Mich./South Christian HS), to earn a commanding 16-6 lead. The Panthers would go on a 6-3 run to cut Calvin's lead to seven, but Calvin would soon reclaim its ten-point lead. After a side-out, a service ace by sophomore Dani Rae Wascher (Albuquerque, N.M./Bosque HS) and a kill by DeVries, the scoreboard read 23-13. The Knights would roll to a 25-14 victory.
The Panthers were able to hang with the Knights early in the third set, employing a varied offense effort and capitalizing on a trio of Calvin serving errors. With the score at 12-11 in Calvin's favor, the Knights would go on a five-point run to pull ahead by six (17-11). After the exchange of a few points, Calvin would string together four consecutive points to go up 22-13. Despite four more points by the Panthers, DeVries would put away a final kill and the Knights would take the third set 25-13. DeVries racked up four kills in the final nine points of the set.
The Knights swung for a .412 hitting percentage in the victory. Danhoff led all-players with 12 kills, hitting .600 on the evening. DeVries followed, finishing with 10 kills and a .714 hitting percentage, also recording three block assists. Junior Tessa Van Laare (Toronto, Ontario/Toronto District Christian) and Anna Kamp logged seven kills apiece.
"I was really pleased with how we came out, especially for it being the first round. I liked how we hit, and I thought we did really well at the net blocking," said Warners.
Junior Jenna Lodewyk (Villa Park, Ill./Timothy Christian HS), named to the All-MIAA first team last week for the third consecutive year, pumped out 32 assists in the victory. Emily Blankespoor led the Knights with three service aces.
Defensively, libero Keilahna Castillo led the Knights with 10 digs, also chipping in five assists. Freshman Ally Fea finished with four block assists.
"We're going to meet a tough DePauw team tomorrow. They'll be strong, they'll be aggressive, and they're consistent on their defense. We're going to have to bring a mentality that we're going to play for every point," said Warners.
Tomorrow at 7:00 p.m., the Knights will face the four-seed DePauw University in the NCAA Division III Regional Semifinals. Prior to the national tournament, the Tigers posted a 24-5 overall record, finishing in second place in the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season and tournament.
Prior to the Knights' victory over the Panthers, DePauw defeated Carnegie-Mellon in four sets (25-20, 25-20, 21-25, 25-20) to advance to the second round. In the victory, five DePauw players had double-digit kills on the night as the team hit .239. Keegan Kollias led the team with 50 assists and 24 digs.
In her final season as a Knight, Danhoff, who was named the MIAA's Most Valuable Player, is excited for this final run at a NCAA title. "This is it," said Danhoff. "Win or go home and be done forever. It's scary, but it's also fun. Coach says it's like we're walking on a cliff. I really love that feeling and having everyone there with me."
MORE VOLLEYBALL
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The AVCA named five Calvin volleyball players to the all-region teams on Friday. Named to the AVCA Great Lakes All-Region Team was senior Laura Danhoff, junior Jenna Lodewyk, sophomore Anna Kamp and sophomore Keilahna Castillo. On the AVCA Great Lakes Honorable Mention All-Region was freshman Sarah DeVries.
"This is a great honor for these five," said head coach Amber Warners. "I am very proud of these ladies for everything they have accomplished so far. They are deserving of these honors. They have worked incredibly hard this season."
Laura Danhoff, a senior from Willard, Ohio, earned all-region honors for the third-straight year. Danhoff leads the team with a .348 hitting percentage and 3.66 kills-per-set. Danhoff has 344 kills on the season and 51 aces. She also leads the team with 70 blocks.
Jenna Lodewyk, a junior from Villa Park, Illinois, notched all-region honors for the third time in her career. Lodewyk leads the team in assists-per-set at 10.13. She has 952 assists on the year and has 41 aces and 192 digs.
Keilahna Castillo, a sophomore from Grandville, Michigan, earned all-region honors for a second-straight year, earning honorable mention honors in 2015. Castillo leads the team at 3.79. She has 356 digs and 42 aces in 2016.
Anna Kamp, a sophomore from Orland Park, Illinois, claimed all-region honors for the first time in her career. Kamp has 299 kills on the season and averages 3.18 kills-per-set. She also has 212 digs.
Sarah DeVries, a freshman from Grand Rapids, Michigan, claimed all-region honors for the first time in her career. DeVries is second on the team with 69 blocks. She also has 200 kills and 23 assists.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The Calvin women's basketball team is set to launch it 2016-17 campaign next Tuesday when it hosts Great Lakes Christian College at Van Noord Arena.
On Wednesday, the Knights were picked to finish third in the preseason MIAA coaches' poll. Hope was picked as the preseason favorite, receiving seven first place votes while Trine was picked to finish second with two first place votes followed by Calvin in third and Adrian in fourth.
Calvin will be under the direction of first-year head coach Chuck Winkelman who comes to Calvin after a strong run at Millsaps College. Winkelman takes over from the highly-successful John Ross who stepped down after 13 years at the helm of the Knights. The cupboard is not bare for Winkelman as WDIII News (2015-16) Honorable Mention All-America honoree Anna Timmer returns for her senior year after averaging 14.2 points and 7.6 rebounds a game. Timmer has since been named to 2016-17 preseason All-America teams by both WDIII News and D3hoops.com.
Timmer is one of two All-MIAA first team selections returning to the Knights as junior forward Bre Luurtsema also returns. Luurtsema averaged 10.5 points and 7. Rebounds a game last year and at times, was a do-everything player for the Knights with her passing, ball-handling, rebounding and shooting skills. Junior guard Ali Spayde also returns after averaging 13.0 points a game last year while connecting on 66 three-point field goals - the second-highest single-season total in Calvin women's basketball history.
Timmer, Luurtsema and Spayde are part of nine returning letterwinners. Other returning letterwinners include 5-8 senior guard Lauren Goldthorpe (St. Ignace, Mich./LaSalle HS), 5-8 senior guard MacKenzie Shelton (Niles, Mich./Brandywine HS), 5-4 junior guard Sarah Cassel (Wheaton, Il./Wheaton North) and sophomores Rachel Warners (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS), Emily VanVliet (Grandville, Mich./Calvin Christian HS) and Becca Richards (Fort Gratiot, Mich./Port Huron Northern HS). Warners and Van Vliet are 6-2 post players while Richards is a 5-7 guard.
Sophomore Caroline Postema (Walker, Mich./Unity Christian HS) is a 5-11 post who joins the varsity after a year on the Calvin junior varsity squad. Other sophomores include Cami Bidinger (New Baltimore, Mich./Anchor Bay HS) and Logan Winton (Fairview, Mich./Fairview HS).
The Knights have two freshmen on the roster in 5-8 guard Sydney Houlemaard (Covington, La./Covington HS) and 6-0 forward Nicole Meyer (Macomb, Mich./Eisenhower HS).
MIAA PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
1. Hope - 63 points (7 first place votes)
2. Trine - 56 points (2 first place votes)
3. Calvin - 52 points
4. Adrian - 41 points
5. Albion - 31 points
6. Olivet - 26 points
7. Alma - 22 points
8. Kalamazoo - 16 points
9. Saint Mary's - 13 points
MEN'S BASKETBALL
The Calvin men's basketball team has been picked to finish fifth in the MIAA preseason coaches' poll released earlier this morning.
Defending MIAA champion Hope was picked to repeat as league champions, receiving six first place votes while Alma received two first place votes and was picked to finish second. Trine was picked to finish third and Albion fourth followed by the Knights.
Kalamazoo was picked to finish sixth, followed by Adrian and Olivet.
Under the direction of veteran head coach Kevin Vande Streek, the Knights are looking to bounce back from a 10-15 campaign a year that saw Calvin finish in sixth in the final MIAA regular season standings.
Calvin returns 11 letterwinners from last year's team including three individuals in senior Cam Denney (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell HS) and juniors Michael Wilks (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) and Tony Canonie (South Haven, Mich./South Have HS) that were starters last season.
Calvin is slated to open its season on November 18 when it hosts Finlandia University at 7:30 p.m. at Van Noord Arena. The Knight will play in an exhibition game this Saturday at 3 p.m. against Lawrence Tech at Van Noord Arena)
2016-17 MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Hope 48 points (6)
2. Alma 43 points (2)
3. Trine 35 points
4. Albion 29 points
5. Calvin 27 points
6. Kalamazoo 20 points
7. Adrian 13 points
8. Olivet 9 points
Received on Fri Nov 11 00:28:43 2016
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