Monthly Archive for September, 2011

Sometimes you get that feel during a volleyball match.  Tuesday night was one of those nights.

Well, first it’s Dordt-Northwestern.  You don’t have to know much more than that really.  When those two hook up for volleyball it invariably will go five.  Even when the teams are very evenly matched.  This year the teams look pretty evenly matched to me.

Anyhow, players rose to the occasion at critical times and Dordt got the win in set five after trailing 8-5.  The Defenders were helped by several Northwestern service errors during the match and Katelyn Schuller came through with 20 kills after missing most of the action at Bellevue over the weekend.  The Defenders will face Doane on Saturday late afternoon .

Soccer teams earned a pair of one goal wins over Northwestern.  Women snapped a five game losing streak and the Defender men bounced back from a loss on Saturday to beat Northwestern as well, getting a late goal off a corner kick sequence.

Golf competed in at Dakota Wesleyan on Friday and will do more of the same on Saturday in Mitchell.

Baseball had game two of their intra squad scrimmage on Monday night.

Ever have a couple days in a row where you just simply feel out of sorts.  The last couple days have been like that.  The regular rhythm was thrown off and you battle to get back to the regular pattern.

The weekend…volleyball had a difficult time and lost a match at Nebraska Wesleyan.  Sounds like they felt they could have won the match in four sets.  Didn’t work out that way.  At Mount Marty on Wednesday for conference play and then off to Bellevue for what I think will be a very interesting three matches against MidAmerica Nazarene, the host Bellevue and Grand View.  Match with Northwestern looms next week in the De Witt.

Women’s soccer is struggling to put the ball in the net.  Lost several one goal games in a row and dropped a 2-0 decision on Saturday at Avila.  Morgan Rodenburgh missed the weekend with a bum ankle and Katie Kortman was knocked out of the Saturday game in goal midway through.  Good week to have a “bye” in midweek play before opening the loop schedule against Concordia on the road.

Men have won six in a row to start the season.  Won in what sounds like was a hostile environment in Avila on Saturday.  Came from behind to take a 2-1 win.  Have to win those on the road to make a run in the conference.  Hopefully the match with Morningside on Wednesday, a non-conference affair,  will sufficiently get the Defenders ready for conference play on Saturday.

Football continues to improve.  That’s all I can say.  They are improving.  Have had several individuals validate that with their comments over the past weeks.  I can safely say the players and coaches aren’t  happy with simply improving at this point.  They want and need wins and keep working towards that end. I’m sure all coaching staffs and players work hard, but I can’t imagine any coaching staff or team working harder than these individuals have over the past weeks.  Hopefully the improvement shown in moving the ball on offense and forcing turnovers on defense will continue.  Two critical games come up over the next two Saturdays.  I’m looking forward to it.

Men’s soccer got some votes in the national poll….first time I can recall that happening.

Continue to check out Facebook for the updates we are making there.

We’ve taken the plunge and not sure what to do other than start paddling.

If you follow the Dordt College athletics website closely you will notice a Facebook icon on the top right hand corner of the page right by the Twitter icon and RSS News Feed icon.  Why did the Sports Information Department at Dordt decide to go live with https://www.facebook.com/#!/dordtdefenders ?

The main reason is it allows us to share news in a different format.  Much of what you see will be “stolen” from the dordt.edu/athletics site, but we’ll try to add a little bit.  Like last week when photos were taken at the Dordt football and soccer games we uploaded those to the facebook page for easy viewing.  I also anticipate posting videos there of postgame interviews, etc.  All of this takes time to get off the ground, but we hope you appreciate the end product.

In the meantime, bear with us, as we figure out different ways to use this tool to advance Dordt College Defender athletics.

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Football got a much needed win on Saturday night over Waldorf.  Defense set up a couple scoring drives, one with a forced fumble and recovery at the 40 yard line, or so, and another by a Jon Luetchens interception that squelched a Warrior drive in Dordt territory and set up a score by Aaron Floen from four yards out on the very next play.  Didn’t expect a shut out, but it was a pleasant surprise.

Men’s soccer is off to a 3-0 start and Derick Sackey was honored this week by the GPAC with player of the week honors for his efforts.  The freshman has five goals this season including a natural hat trick (three uninterrupted goals in a contest) against Trinity International.

Good to see Rindy De Nooy bouncing back well from a knee injury that cost her the last half of the season in 2010.  De Nooy leads the team in goals scored with three.

Cross Country ran at a night time meet in Sioux Falls last week….no team points kept but Coach Van Dyke seemed pretty happy with how the teams ran.  In his words the atmosphere for the after dark meet was “electric”.

Men’s and women’s golf are closing in on the start of their GPAC season.  The first of the four rounds used to determine conference champions are coming up next week.  The Ridge will host the women’s event on September 16.

Volleyball banged out a 3-0 win over Briar Cliff on Tuesday night, September 6.  Didn’t see the sweep coming but was great to see the energy the Defenders played with and the energy that was in the De Witt last night.  Estimated crowd for the conference opener was 600-700….not bad for a Tuesday.  Looked a little strange to see former coach Tom VB stroll out of the gym looking calm and relaxed after watching his former team handle a squad that gave the Defenders fits last season.  Coach Hanson and the ladies headed for the airport and eventually San Diego, California for a weekend tournament this afternoon.

Yes, well aware we had some issues last night with webcast.  Lots of moving parts to get working together again this year.  We’re working on it.

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One of the common things that is asked when I travel and I run into Dordt supporters is this.  “How can we help Dordt athletics continue to improve competitively  in the Great Plains Athletic Conference and the NAIA?  Had the question asked of me this past summer when I traveled to the West Coast for a vacation.  Here’s one way and you can spread the word….it will help.

Historically, the Defender Gold Club has provided support to our athletics teams through funding non-budgeted items such as new bleachers and wall padding in the De Witt Gymnasium among other things. A new primary focus for the Defender Gold Club will be to enhance athletic scholarship awards. Your membership can have immediate results for our sports programs…you will actually be able to see your membership dollars at work on the court or field!

You will be able to sign up online for the Defender Gold Club at http://www.dordt.edu/athletics/gold_club/

Please consider a tax-deductible membership at one of these levels:

· Excellence in Athletics (Endowed Scholarship $40,000)

· Platinum ($10,000)

· Gold ($5,000)

· Silver ($1,000)

· Bronze ($500)

· Club ($100)

· Member ($50)

The benefits of your membership include the knowledge of supporting our student athletes immediately, a Defender Gold Club embroidered gift that coincides with your membership level, and public recognition through our website and sports game programs.

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Waiting on golf results and then calling it a day for a Wednesday ……