From deep in the heart of Nebraska. It’s Saturday morning, I’m in Crete. The volleyball team plays Doane a little later this afternoon in what has become a terribly important early season GPAC match–I guess we can’t call it early anymore, we’re almost to the midpoint of the conference season.

First, last night. Dordt was clicking on all cylinders in game one against Nebraska Wesleyan and took a relatively easy win in game one. The rest of the night didn’t go as well. Wesleyan hung around and a pair of tight wins in game two and three gave the Prairie Wolves the advantage. Dordt’s passing wasn’t as sharp in games two and three andit looked likeit was tougher for them to get into their”system” or offense. Defenders had chances in all three game–games two, three and four but couldn’t close.Everything just looked like hard work last night in the final three games. It won’t be easy today but the Defenders will be in Crete and they will get after it. In the six-plus years I’ve been following Dordt volleyball the Defenders usually bounce back pretty well.

Soccer is at home this afternoon against Nebraska Wesleyan. Sounds like it will be a wet track this afternoon in Sioux Center. Don’t know what the weather is like in Madison for the runners. Pretty safe to say it’s probably windy.

Golf was in Orange City yesterday….have yet to receive the full results from NW. Dordt’s Jared Rempel shot a 76, Brad Evenson and Jared Janz both shot 79’s. Dordt had a 314 as a team. Golf in Sioux Falls this week.

Baseball is in the middle of their intra-squad World Series. The Gold team leads the series 2-1. Resume the best of five series on Monday.

The Gold team consists of Bryan Diemer, Kyle Dieleman, Patrick Sinnema, Chris Liebhart, Josh Bowers, Joseph Dirksen, Bobby Lutke, Ben Fife, Brady Goslinga, Daryl Visser and Travis Feekes.

The Black is Alex Jansen, Craig Horstman, Keith Kooistra, Shad Sikkink, Derek Peters, Josh Ewing, Evan Phenegar, Dustin Vander Zwaag, Travis De Jong, Dillon Naumann, Leland Kootstra, Jed Bennett and Dillon Peters.

Gold won game one 5-3 with two runs in the eighth inning when Daryl Visser clubbed a two run homerun in to score Chris Liebhart. Travis Feekes was 2-4 with two runs scored and Patrick Sinnema got the win, pitching an inning and a third, allowing one hit with no runs and Kyle Dieleman got the save. Jed Bennett was 2-4 along with Dillon Peters.

Black came back to win game two 4-3 with a run in the top of the eighth when Jed Bennett singled and was pushed around Derek Peters lifted a sacrifice fly to the outfield after Dillon Peters and Travis De Jong singled and walked to load the bases. Shad Sikkink was the winner, working the final three innings, facing ten batters and issuing one walk with two strikeouts. Six other Black players had base knocks. Travis Feekes was 2-4 with two singles and a run scored. Bryan Diemer pitched four innings and faced 14 batters in the loss while allowing one run and two hits.

The Gold team came back for a 6-5 win in game three on Thursday. Chris Liebhart was 3-4 at the plate with three singles and a run scored and Brady Goslinga had two singles and a run scored. Josh Bowers was 1-4 with two runs scored. Kyle Deileman was sharp, working three innings and allowing one run on one hit. The Black team got three his from Travis De Jong with two runs scored–the senior had a double and two singles. Dillon Peters was 2-4 with a run scored and Phenegar was 2-4. Peters is having an unbelievable fall…save some hits for the Spring Dill.

How do I pass the time on the road? Well, I save some work and do that when I get back to the motel room so I’m tired when I go to bed and don’t have trouble getting to sleep. I take workout clothes along and try to get a walk in–outside if possible–get to see some things that you don’t normally when you stay on the beaten path. Have ESPN on and do some blogging. Will probably head to the gym 2-3 hours before varsity match or gametime and do some prep work. I’ve got a book in my bag as well if need be.

Cell phone and e mail help me stay in touch and there’s always statwork for our athletic teams that needs to be done. When I was a student at DordtDr. James Schaap said you’ve got to do the chores when you write–meaning, there are certain tasks you have to do, every day, like them or not, otherwise they pile up and you’re fighting from behind. That statement applies to this job in many regards. So I’ve got to do the chores….time to go…………..

Well, in case you haven’t heard or seen, the Dordt volleyball team earned a 3-0 win over previously unbeaten Morningside on Tuesday night in Great Plains Athletic Conference volleyball at the De Witt Gym. Dordt got up early in all three games and Morningside never really challenged except for the final points in game three where they cut a 28-18 lead down to 28-26 before Dordt won 30-27. Road trip to Nebraska Wesleyan and Doane this weekend. Have had success against Wesleyan since the formation of the GPAC. Doane has always been a difficult task, although the Defenders have had good success with the Tigers. Previews for those matches will go up on Thursday. Doane always covers the court very well–similar to Briar Cliff in that they don’t give you many points with missed serves and the like.

Back to the match on Tuesday, Dordt blocked as well as they have in any of the matches I’ve seen this year and served tough enough that Morningside had a difficult time getting into their attack. Also the passers got the ball to Emily Van Voorst in spots where she had some options. Good win for the Defenders who are now 21-4.

Baseball team is playing their intra-squad World Series. Best of five. Had to stop the game last night with it tied. They’re finishing that one up and then jumping right into game two this afternoon/evening.

Previews for the weekend for cross country and golf are up on the athletics page and an interview with coach Heavner is up as well. Soccer teams are playing in Sioux Falls right now.

That’s it……

Volleyball and soccer had center stage this weekend. Volleyball hosted their Classic on Friday and Saturday while the soccer teams went to Hastings.

Soccer had a rough go of it. Women lost 5-0 and the men 5-1. Dordt’s goal came with 19 minutes left by Ryan Coon. Hastings men are always outstanding….regulars at the national tournament, numerous GPAC championships, as skilled a team as you will see at out level. Sounds like our women had a tough time keeping up on the fast surface at Hastings. Both teams play on the road this Wednesday at Sioux Falls. Important games for both teams.

Volleyball team went 4-0 this weekend. Beat Briar Cliff 3-1 on Friday night and Sioux Falls on Saturday 3-0. Both those teams had beaten Dordt in GPAC play this season. Defender women are 20-4. Kendra Potgeter keeps getting better. We’ve been spoiled with Emily Van Voorst’s setting ability the last four years…I find we take talent for granted until it’s gone….thought the same thing with Luke Ruter on the men’s basketball team a few years ago. Anyway, I got off the subject, the volleyball team hosts undefeated Morningside on Tuesday. Mustangs are ranked 12th in the country. Got a transfer from Bellevue late this summer that seems to have put them over the top.

Baseball team split with Northwestern on Friday. Don’t have much for details…coach Zomer and the boys were busy with a fundraiser (shingling) on Saturday. Will get some details for you Monday or Tuesday. Softball hosted an offseason scrimmage as well on Saturday.

Took in the Pops Concert put on by the Dordt concert band and orchestra on Friday. We do have some talented individuals on campus. Can honestly say I never thought I’d see Henry Duitman dressing up like Eminem or hearing the strains of some AC/DC and Metallica at a Dordt concert! An entertaining evening to say the least.

Football Monday. At Northwestern. 5:00 kickoff. Not much more to say than that.

Till next week…….

Had started to write this on Monday night after the football game and found I couldn’t collect my thoughts enough to go in some sort of organized direction.

Spent a fair amount of timestaring up at the ceiling last night thinking about the 23-21 loss the Dordt football team suffered on Monday night to a Briar Cliff football team on a last second field goal. After working a lot of games over the past 15 years I canhonestly say that doesn’t happen to me too much. Bottom line, theteam played well enough for the majority of the game to have a chance to win. Couple critical plays spelled trouble, a missed snap on a punt and a fumblein the end zone another. 13 points there. Won’t go into the details, you can find those on the athletics page…Positive notes. Defense stopped the run, created a turnoverthat set up a Defender touchdown and offensive line cleared the way for well over 200 yards of rushing betweenDerek Kammerlocher and Ben Robbins.Kammerlocher nearly had 200 net yards and scored three touchdowns. Needless to say though, I doubt that I was the only personwho’s thoughts didn’t drift off quietly into the night. Time to get ready for Northwestern next Monday at 5:00 in Orange City.

Women’s tennis team played a doubles tournament in Lincoln on Sunday. Theteam of Alanna Dake and Betsy Borr won the tournament while Emily Wierenga and Laura De Bruin placed third. Marylin Weidenaar is the coachof the Defender team this year. Play their official season in the Spring.

Had a request for some baseball information. Played in Sioux City on Friday at Lewis and Clark Park (Home field of the SC Explorers). Faced Morningside for a pair of six inning games. Banged out 30 runs for a pair of lopsided wins with Dillon Peters getting red-hot–had a 7-8 day with six singles, a double and six runs scored. Evan Phenegar was 4-6 in the first game with a double and three singles and BobbyLutke was 2-3. Chris Leibhart, Derek Peters and Jed Bennett all had two hits in game wone and Josh Bowers was 3-6. In game two Ben Fife, a freshman from Arizona was 2-2 to go along withDillon’s 3-4 day. Four other players had one hit. Used a lot of pitcher. Kyle Dieleman faced sevenbatters in two innings of work in game one while Darryl Visserwent two innings and gave up two hits. Shad Sikkink was perfect in relief in game two–three up, three down.

That’s it for now.

Not that that mean’s much….gearing up for another busy weekend. Soccer’s at home tomorrow, waiting to hear from the volleyball team at Hastings and cross country is at Wisconsin-Parkside. Golf team shot a 319 today–improved five strokes with Collin Broekhuis carding a 76.

High school football games galore tonight–opening of the district season in Iowa–the march to the post-season begins. Scary thought for Class 2A teams but from the reports I’m hearing Central Lyon George Little Rock might be better than last year…we’ll see. Safe bets in Class 1A would probably be West Lyon in district 1 and in Class 3A it sounds like Spencer and Heelan are the teams to beat in district 1. Heelan and Harlan beat up on each other last week….could be a playoff preview.

Steve Wachter(pronounced Waxter) won his 100th game a couple of weeks ago. Coaches at Hartley Melvin Sanborn and has been there since 1993. Spent a lot of Saturday mornings in Sheldon having breakfast with him for a coaches show I hosted. Good guy, deserves more credit than he is willing to take.

Softball team plays Morningside, Mount Mercy and the College of Saint Mary tomorrow in the Morningside Fall ball tournament. Coach Kroeze has some new talent he’s working with–sounds like there will be competition for innings at pitcher and some new faces in a few different positions.

What???Seven weeks until the opening weekend of the basketball season….That’s going to be here before we know it too! Don’t look too far ahead, enjoy the day we’re given……not always easy, but sound advice I’d say.

Enjoy some time with your family this weekend. Till tomorrow night