Monthly Archive for October, 2007

Tuesday, October 30

Published on October 30, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Trying to gather my thoughts before this evening’s volleyball match between Dordt College and Northwestern takes place. Match carries a great deal of weight for both teams. The way I have it figured Dordt could still finish as high as second and as low as fifth in the seeding of the eight teams for the post-season tournament which begins on Saturday, November3. Northwestern could finish as high as first and as low as fifth. Morningside will finish first or second and Briar Cliff could go as high as second and as low as fifth. Hastings will play Wednesday against Nebraska Wesleyan and could go as low as fifth as well.

Here’s how it breaks down. If Morningside beats Briar Cliff in the Newman Flanagan Center tonight they are the GPAC champs and will have the number one seed in the tournament. If they lose the dominos start to drop.

Let’s say Briar Cliff beats Morningside and Dordt beats Northwestern and Hastings drops NWesleyan. Morningside is still the champion while Dordt jumps to second with Briar Cliff third, Hastings is fourth and Northwestern falls all the way to fifth.

Now, let’s say Briar Cliff beats Morningside, Northwestern beats Dordt and Hastings beats NWesleyan. Northwestern and Morningside tie for the title and Northwestern is the number one seed because they won five games in their two matches with Morningside to Morningside’s four. Briar Cliff becomes the third seed and Hastings is fourth and Dordt fifth. Their are several combinations that I won’t explore here….this has been as topsy-turvy as I’ve seen the standings this late and nothing will be finalized until Wednesday night. We do know that Midland Lutheran will be the eighth seed. We do know that Concordia and Doane will finish in either sixth or seventh and we do know that Morningside will at least have a share of the conference title–we just don’t know their seed.

Clear as mud.

And I wonder why I get headaches.

Women’s soccer left this morning for Hastings. Quarterfinal Region III tournament game. Winner plays Midland Lutheran on Friday. Dordt will try to reverse a 5-0 loss suffered late in September. I like the fact that the GPAC has done away with their post-season tournament and they go straight to Regionals…..we don’t have teams playing each other two and three times within the span of a week or ten days.

Getting ready for a road trip on this first weekend of the basketball season to North Dakota. Got done reading Tony Dungy’s book last week so I won’t have that one to take along. Am reading “Something for Joey” with my kids at night. Think I saw the movie twenty times when I was growing up. For those of you who don’t remember it’s the story of John Cappelletti–Heisman Trophy winner from Penn State in the early 1970′s and the bond he had with his younger brother Joey who suffered from leukemia. Just about to the end of that as well…better stop by the library before we depart early Friday morning.

Women’s basketball team is scrimmaging Minnesota West in Worthington today, men have had a couple scrimmages as well with Iowa Lakes and Augustana–never really heard how they went–busy with lots of stuff these days.

Longos and More

Published on October 28, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Saturday is done. Soccer split their games with Dana in Blair, Nebraska with the women winning and the men losing. The cross country teams ran in the GPAC championships as well. The women placed sixth as a team with Jen Kempers coming in third while Steph Helmus and Tami Wieringa were 21st and 32nd respectively. Dordt was sixth by 65 points to Doane and were just a point ahead of Hastings in seventh.

On the men’s side Joel De Haan dropped out of the race with a couple miles to go.Talked with Coach Van Dyke later in the afternoon. SaidJoel probably could have finished the race on an ankleinjury he aggravated earlier in the race. Decided to drop out and save it forthis Saturday and the Region III race.Mark Eekhoff was Dordt’s top finisher with 45th–just edging out DevinVan’t Hof.Dordtended up in 9th place.

Region III race is this Saturday, November 3 in Sioux Falls. Berths to nationals are determined at that race.

Women’s soccer continued their hot play with a shutout of Dana 2-0. Finished in fifth place in the conference–not enough foran automatic berth to the Region III tournament. Now we wait and seeif their longo point average of 202 points is enough to get them one of the two at large berths….I’m guessing it will be but we won’t know untillate Sunday. If they make it in the tournament opens with the third-sixth seeds playing each other on Tuesday…..short turnaround withlittle time to prepare.

Men’s soccer lost 3-0. Gave up a goal right out of the chute in the first minute and never got on the board as Dana scored one more early in the second half and another late to solidify the win. The men’s longo points probably aren’t enough to get into the tournament. Finished the conference 5-5-2 and overall 8-7-2.

Finished submitting the longo point forms late Saturday night. Takes into account team’s final records and margin of victory and where the games were played. You gain points ranging from 0-400 and then you average them for all games played. Men were hurt by two games in particular–a loss to Bethel in the Twin Cities and Dakota Wesleyan….got 0 and 25 points respectively in those games. By comparison, the women got a 400 point win on Saturday with their victory at Dana. Sounds crazy to the outsider but soccer has been doing it this way for years. I don’t think my assistant on Saturday night, when figuring longos out had this in mind when she said “I do”.

Volleyball is a mess. With one match to go Dordt is tied for third. Play Northwestern on Tuesday. A win could get them as high as second. Northwestern has a chance at first if Morningside would lose to Briar Cliff. Dordt is tied with Hastings and BC right now…..the eight teams are set for the tournament…..seeds are not. Depending on how everything shakes out Dordt could end as high as second or as low as fifth. Tuesday will be an interesting night.

I’m longoed out……..

Big Day Saturday

Published on October 26, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Just putting the wraps on the volleyball match from Friday night with Mount Marty. Always takes longer than you think to get to Yankton….make sure you slow down through Irene…..Anyhow, Dordt had too much firepower for the Lancers. Hit over .400 for the match as a team…Autumn VandeKamp had 15 kills with one error. Kristin De Ronde and Larissa Veldhuizen both had double digits. Of course it all starts with the passing and setter. Emily Van Voorst was strong again.

Morningside tightened their grip on the GPAC crown with a win over Hastings at Allee Gym 3-2. Have a game lead now with two losses. Hastings and Northwestern have three losses. Dordt and Briar Cliff have four losses. Cliff hosts Hastings tomorrow. Morningside hosts Concordia and travels to Briar Cliff on Tuesday and Dordt hosts NW. Lots of shaking and moving yet to come. GPAC tournament starts on Saturday, November 3.

Cross Country runs tomorrow in Crete, Nebraska in GPAC Championships. Sounds like everyone is pretty healthy.

Both soccer teams need to win on Saturday at Dana. Women are in decent position for a berth in the REgion III six-team tournament. Men are in a more tenuous position. Even with a win they would probably need some help. Probably won’t know much until late in the day on Sunday.

Basketball opens their season one week from today. When did that happen??

Till later this weekend.

It’s Been a Little While

Published on October 24, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Haven’t done this since late Saturday night.

What’s happened. Football team lost 17-14 at Morningside. Played what I thought was their best total game of the season. Sustained some drives on offense. Solid on defense. Missed a couple opportunities or the outcome could have been different. Derek Kammerlocher, a Texas native, had another 100 yard rushing day. Play Northwestern on November 5 in the season finale. 4:30 kickoff.

Volleyball team moved to third in NAIA Region III volleyball on Monday. Beat Dakota Wesleyan 3-0 on Tuesday. Found out they are ranked #11 on Wednesday. Play Mount Marty on Friday. 29-6 currently and 10-4 in the GPAC. Still have a shot at second lots of scenarios to play out. Looking at the NAIA national rankings it is top heavy with California schools. Six of the top eight hail from NAIA Region II which is made up mostly of Golden Sun Athletic Teams. Fresno Pacific, Point Loma, Biola, California Baptist—schools like that.

Soccer got two more wins today. Men earned an overtime win over a salty Northwestern team. Ryan Coon got the game winner with about two minutes left in overtime. 43rd of his career and now has 106 points. Broke the ties he had with Ryan Coon in both categories, moving to ninth and eighth by himself respectively. Women are making a late push for the playoffs after a 4-2 win over Northwestern. Kate Du Mez figured in with a goal and two assists for the Defenders. One game remaining for the men and women…at Dana on Saturday.

Cross Country is at GPAC championships on Saturday in Crete. I’m anxious to see how the teams will finish against some of the best competition they will have faced all year.

Another Week Done

Published on October 20, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Putting the wraps on the weekend that was as we slide into the 11 o’clock hour.

The soccer teams were dominating today in wins over Mount Marty. Seemed like Dordt could get a shot whenever they wanted. Ryan Coon moved into a tie with Mike Oppeneer for career goals with his 42nd in the men’s 6-0 win over the Lancers. Six different players had goals for the Defenders. Coon also had a pair of assists and tied Oppeneer for career points–eighth all-time. Women scored a 7-1 win. Three goals for Kirsten Monsma, two goals for Noelle Kreykes. A goal and assist for Kate Du Mez. Couple real testers coming up this week to close the season. Host Northwestern on Wednesday and travel to Dana on Saturday.

Volleyball team earned a win over Midland Lutheran 3-1. Warriors had the Defenders on the ropes in game two when Dordt had to go to 34-32 to win. Midland took game three convincingly. Little run by Dordt midway through game four swung the game and eventually the match to Dordt’s favor. Becca Schelhaas was serving when the run happened. Balanced attack. Larissa Veldhuizen had 17 kills. Autumn Vande Kamp came up huge in game four and ended with 15 kills and Kristin De Ronde and Kendra Potgeter both had 14 and 12 kills respectively. Emily Van Voorst another average night…..49 assists.

I said it during my broadcast and I will say it here. Players like Ryan Coon and Emily Van Voorst don’t come around all the time. Enjoy their skills while they are here. It’s pretty easy to take what they do athletically for granted because we get used to it. Here’s hoping they can make it into the post-season and extend their careers a little bit further. We’ll know a lot more when this week is done.

Stats are done. Stories are written. A little prep work for football on Monday still awaits me….then I’m going home. Till next week……

Parent’s Weekend

Published on October 19, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

It’s Friday, October 19 and Parent’s Weekend at Dordt College is in full swing. Lots of visitors and the sun is finally shining again after about a week’s absence.

Can’t remember if I mentioned it previously but Jen Kempers was named the GPAC female runner of the week for the third time this season after winning the Mount Marty Invite. Jen has brought her time down through out the season. Keep in mind she was beaten at the Dordt Invite in late August by a couple of runners she came back to beat at Mount Marty. Cross Country teams run at the GPAC championships next weekend.

Speaking of cross country the high school teams in Class 2A ran yesterday under less than ideal conditions. Ran at Sheldon with Western taking the boys team title and Tim Bierma of WEstern was the winner by :13 with a time of 16:48. MOC Floyd Valley and Sioxu Center also qualified for the boys state meet next weekend while Unity came up one point short. The girls race was a runaway for George Little Rock Central Lyon. 37 team points–second place had 84–that was Unity and Sioux Center was third with 87. Steph Wibben and Jess Fiedler were 1-2 for GLRCL in 15:08 and 15:42 respectively….those are some pretty impressive times when you look at the entire state.

High school football is heading to the end of the regular season. Lot of the usual suspects–Central Lyon George Little Rock, West Lyon, Heelan, etc…at the top of their respective districts.

Volleyball is at home tonight. Try to keepa five match winning streak alive when they host Dana tonight and Midland Lutheran tomorrow. Only three regular season matches remaining after this weekend. I need to check Emily Van Voorst’s career totals for assists. I’m betting she is getting close to the all-time career record at Dordt.

Speaking of career marks, Ryan Coon is now one goal away from tying Mike Oppeneeer for tenth all time with 42 goals. Has already tied Ray Middel with 100 points which is ninth all-time.

Rosters for men’s and women’s basketball are up on the website. Making arrangements for broadcasting the season openers in two weeks in North Dakota–that will be on us before you know it.

Mid-Week Checkup

Published on October 17, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Just got done wrapping up the volleyball win over Sioux Falls on Wednesday night. Dordt won 3-0 in a match that really lacked any “zip”. Quiet gym–never really felt like the end result was in doubt. Nice sized group of fans on hand for Dordt’s 26th win of the season….always draw well in Sioux Falls–lots of Dordt grads and supporters.

Soccer is at Doane tomorrow afternoon for a pair of games. Very important for both the men and women as they are playing teams near them in the conference standings. Just a week and half left in the regular season. Better start looking at the ‘longo’ forms. This is a mathematical formula based on strength of competition and margin of victory that we must figure at the end of the season for Regional seeding and wild-card invites. Too soon to predict but we should have a pretty good idea by Saturday night where Dordt sites going into their final week.

Cross Country has the weekend off and football had the week off and are preparing for their game with Morningside on Monday, October 22. We’ll address the issue of a possible eighth game when that one is done.

Men’s and women’s basketball practices are off and running. Working on those programs and the info that goes in them along with a project for 50 years of basketball at Dordt College. Women’s roster is up on the website….men’s roster there in the next day or so….have to make sure everything is finalized. Just a little over two weeks till the season opens. That doesn’t seem right.

Till later this week

Couple notes

Published on October 15, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Had someone ask who’s hurt for the men’s cross country team. While I won’t go into detail on the injuries I will say Jathan Robinson and Josiah Luttjeboer were both held out of Saturday’s meet at Yankton. The hope is they will both be available in a little under two weeks when the GPAC championships are run.

Checked on some career totals for soccer this morning and here’s how it shakes out right now. Ryan Coon, a senior from Thornton, Colorado has 40 career goals and is two away from tying former teammate Mike Oppeneer for ninth all-time. Coon also has 98 career points and is two away from tying Ray Middel who played from 1985-1988 for ninth all-time. Four games to go for the men.

Also, out of curiousity, I checked Kate DuMez’s numbers. The sophomore has 16 career goals and ten assists. Already ranks tenth all time in goals for the women and 13th all-time in points with 42.

That’s it for now…

Shut it down

Published on October 13, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Just checking in before I close it down for the week.

Volleyball got a hard earned win over a very good Briar Cliff team on Saturday night. Rolled in game one, gave up an eight point run in game two that gave BC hope and then it was a dogfight. Won game three and then trailed game four 26-20. Really had no business coming back to win that game but did. Emily Van Voorst was strong setting and Kristin De Ronde rose to the occasion late in the match. Four hitters with 12 kills or more so eveyone took their turn. Briar Cliff’s second loss of the GPAC season. They have most of their remaining matches at home and they have their destiny in their own hands. Very scrappy team, my guess is they will win their share in the next two weeks.

Soccer swept York today. Women got a 2-0 win–one goal in each half. Kate Du Mez had a hand, or should I say, foot in both with an assist and a goal–lame attempt at humor I know. Men’s soccer got a 5-0 win with Andrew Wubben scoring two, Ryan Coon had one goal and two assists–have to check his totals–he may be getting into top-ten territory.

Cross Country was highlighted by Jen Kempers’ dive to the finish line to nip a Northwestern run at Mount Marty’s Invite. Officially listed :00.01 faster for the individual title. Men are really banged up right now…..have to get healthy for GPAC championship in two weeks.

Going home to bed. Have a fantastic Sunday……

Thursday, October 11

Published on October 11, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Well, we got our answer on what the raters were going to do with the Dordt volleyball team. Monday we found out they have jumped from 7th to 4th in the regional rankings. What that means is that on the national rater ballots Dordt had to be listed in front of Hastings and Northwestern whom they leapfrogged. Voters, of which there are fourteen, can not put a team that is fifth in the region rankings in front of a team that is ranked fourth in that same ranking.

So, we had an idea the Defenders would move into the top-25, I don’t think any of us thought it would be all the way to 14 which is a huge jump at this time of the year. Now the Defenders must play a team that is probably feeling jilted, the Briar Cliff Chargers on Saturday night in Sioux Center. Briar Cliff beat Dordt in a conference match in early September, then the Defenders beat them in a return trip to the Dordt tournament. Should make for an interesting match. Briar Cliff is 8-1 in the league and a half game behind Morningside in the standings. Should make for an interesting night.

Soccer split with Dakota Wesleyan. Women got out and won handily 5-0–Coach Elgersma seemed really pleased with the way the team played. Playing Bellevue as I type this. Play at York on Saturday–a four-plus hour road trip.

The men started slow and got down 4-0 at halftime which is huge in soccer. Try to rebound this Saturday at York before making a final push in the last two weeks of the season.

Talked with for DC coaches today–audio is on the website. Pictures of the golf meet on Tuesday are also up at http://www.dordt.edu/gallery2/main.php. Did some previews of upcoming games and meets and wrapped up the first half of the golf season.

Dorinda Hibma was named libero of the week by the NAIA. Second time in the last two years a Dordt College player has garnered the award. Traci Kooima earned the honor late in the year last year. Hibma averaged over six digs per game last week in the wins over Northwestern, Hastings and Concordia. Emily Van Voorst also earned the GPAC and NAIA Region III setter of the week honors while averaging over 13 assists per game.Has been putting those numbers up consistently for the past several years now.

That’s it for now…….