Alumni News - 12/31/09

Ashlee Crower (Jenison), a sophomore outside hitter at Hillsdale, has been named to the NCAA Div. 2 All American 3rd team.  Crowder was a First Team All-GLIAC selection this year, after being named the 2008 GLIAC "Freshman of the Year". She was also named the GLIAC Tournament MVP in 2009, leading the Chargers to their first-ever conference tournament title. Her 491 kills were third-most in a single season in school history, and she finished second in the GLIAC in kills and kills per set. Crowder was named First-Team All-Region by both Daktronics and the AVCA this season. Read more . . .

Alumni News - 12/2/09

We have the following alumni participating in the 2009 NCAA Div. 1 National Tournament.

Megan Steenhuysen - IPFW
Alisha Glass - Penn State
Michelle McMahon - Michigan
Marie Roof - Notre Dame
Megan Hendrickson - Duke

Follow the action here.   As of 12/7/09 - Michigan and Penn State are still in the hunt for the Final Four!

Alumni News - 11/22/09

Freshmen Jessica Brown (East Kentwood) and junior Allyson Doyle earned prestigous honors at the MAC awards ceremony.  For the stellar efforts at Western Michigan this year Brown was named Freshman of the Year, while Doyle earned a spot on the All Conference 1st Team.  They have helped the Broncos to a spot in the tournament championship match later today for a chance to return to the NCAA tournament.



Freshmen setter Megan Steenhuysen (East Kentwood) helped the IPFW Mastadons win the Summit Tournament Championship and qualify for the NCAA Div. 1 tournament.  Not only did Megan score the winning ace, but she had 43 assists and 17 digs in the 5-set victory over host North Dakota State.



Freshmen Taylor Root (Jenison) was named the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year.  She is the libero for Valparaiso University who made it to the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament.  They will be in Michigan on November 30 when they travel to Western Michigan University for a 7 p.m. contest.



Two FaR Out alumni - Traci Baker (Tri-Unity Christian) and Courtney Earles (East Kentwood) had an amazing season helping the Hope College Flying Dutch all the way to the NCAA Div. 3 Final Four. Their season ended in the semis to Washington University (Mo.).

 

Junior setter Kelsey Jones (Forest Hills Northern) continues to aid her Wake Forest team to victory.  She recorded five straight double-doubles and had another solid night on Saturday to lead her team past NC State.  Wake Forest is now 11-19 overall and 9-10 in conference play.



Hillsdale player Ashlee Crowder (Jenison) helped her team capture the GLIAC Tournament Championship and was named the tournament MVP.  Hillsdale made it to the second round of the NCAA Div. 2 tournament before losing to the University of Indianapolis on Friday.



Two FaR Out Alumni were chosen as co-Setters of the Year in the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference: Katie VanderMeer (East Kentwood) and Inta Grinvalds (Portage Central).

 



Alumni News - 10/29/09

Valparaiso freshman libero Taylor Root (Jenison) has been named the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this year. Root registered a league-high 55 digs last week over the Crusaders’ three matches. The freshman started the week with a match-high 22 digs in a non-league sweep of IUPUI and then posted 17 digs in a four-set contest at Cleveland State. Root closed the week with a match-best 16 digs in a sweep over Wright State. On the week, Root averaged 5.50 digs/set, increasing her season average to an even 5.00 digs/set, tops in the Horizon League. Her 430 digs on the year are just 30 away from breaking into Valpo’s single-season top-ten efforts in the category.




Alumni News - 10/18/09

Freshman libero Taylor Root (Jenison) broke the Valparaiso program record for digs in a three-set match, picking up 31 digs in a sweep of Green Bay (26-24, 29-27, 25-22). Root, who has led the Crusaders in digs in every match this season, recorded nine digs in the opening set and eight in the second set before tallying a whopping 14 digs in the final frame to set the record. Root’s mark of 31 digs, which also marks a new career best for the freshman, broke former Crusader great Brittany Malicoat’s record for a three-set match of 30, set at Drake on Sept. 9, 2006.  “For a freshman, Taylor has been playing at a very steady, high level in the back for us,” said Crusader head coach Carin Avery. “At times, you almost don’t even notice her, which is a good thing, because it means she is in the right spot most of the time. She had never played middle back before this year, so there was a learning curve for her playing that position in our system, and you can tell she is becoming more comfortable as the season progresses. She also does a very good job of just keeping the ball alive and keeping it off the ground.”

Root was also named ‘The People’s Choice’ this week on the Horizon League Network. ‘The People’s Choice’ is a weekly segment on HLN that allows fans to choose which athlete they believed had the most outstanding week among the Horizon League’s Athletes of the Week. Voting is open from Monday around noon through Tuesday afternoon each week, with an interview with the winner posted on HLN Thursday afternoon. Root beat out Butler’s Boris Gatzky (men’s soccer), Milwaukee’s Sarah Hagen (women’s soccer) and Cleveland State’s Beth Greulich (volleyball) for this week’s honor. The freshman is Valpo’s second honoree this season, joining Angie Porché, who won the accolade in its first week. She currently leads all Horizon League players with 4.86 digs/set on the season.



Wake Forest junior setter Kelsey Jones (Forest Hills Northern) notched a career-high 20 digs and dished out 40 assists but North Carolina took a 2-0 lead held on to defeat the Wake Forest volleyball team in four sets Sunday afternoon at the Dean E. Smith Center. The win (25-21, 25-16, 21-25, 25-20) improves the Tar Heels to 10-9 on the year and 6-2 in the conference while the loss drops the Deacons to 7-13 overall and 5-4 in the ACC.  It was led by Jones' ninth double-double of the season. She had previously recorded a career-high of 19 digs on three separate occasions. Jones also finished the match with four kills and three total blocks.






Alumni News - 9/21/09

For their efforts in helping Western Michigan win the T.I.S. College Bookstore IU Invitational, Allyson Doyle (BC St. Phil) was named the Tournament MVP, while Jessica Brown (East Kentwood) was named to the All-Tournament team.  Allyson moved into eighth all-time in career digs at WMU with 933. Brown set a new career high with 19 kills in the comeback victory over AAMU.



Hillsdale College sophomore volleyball player Ashlee Crowder (Jenison) was named the GLIAC South Division Player of the Week for the second time this season. Crowder, an outside hitter, had an outstanding week in leading the Chargers to a 3-0 record, all versus South Division foes.
She finished the week with 56 kills and only nine hitting errors. She averaged 6.2 kills per set and hit .402 for the week, two stats that are out-of-this-world for an outside hitter.

The Western Kentucky University volleyball team won their second consecutive tournament this weekend winning the DePaul Tournament.  At the conclusion of the tournament, freshman Jordyn Skinner (South Christian) and senior Brittany Bowen (Forest Hills Central) were named to the All-Tournament Team. Skinner, who was named the Most Valuable Player, finished the weekend with 34 kills and a .308 hitting percentage while also posting 27 digs and four blocks. Bowen posted 26 kills and a .408 hitting percentage.



Katie Vander Meer (East Kentwood) helped Aquinas College to a 2-0 record on the week to be named the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Player of the Week for the sport of Volleyball.
She averaged 10.9 assists and 3.3 digs during the Saints' wins against Davenport University (3-0) and Cornerstone University (3-1). Against Davenport, she recorded 31 assists, 10 digs, five digs and had one serving ace. In the Cornerstone win she had 45 assists, 13 digs and 13 kills.
Vander Meer is off to a good start this season, averaging 9.1 assists per game for a Top 50 ranking. She is also averaging 2.5 kills per game.







Alumni News - 9/10/09

Freshman Taylor Root (Jenison) represented Valparaiso on the Hampton Inn Drake Invitational All-Tournament Team. Root earned All-Tournament accolades for the second time in as many weeks for her play at the libero position. The freshman paced the Crusaders in digs in all four matches, registering at least 12 digs every time out and averaging 4.33 digs/set on the weekend. She stepped up huge on the back line for Valpo in its five-set thriller over South Dakota Saturday morning, setting a new career high with 28 digs.



Junior Inta Grinvalds (Portage Central) was named to the All-Tournament team as Madonna took home the 2008 Julie Martin Memorial Tournament Championship on Saturday with a 3-0 win over Windsor and a 3-1 win over Spring Arbor.

The Mid-American Conference announced today that Western Michigan junior outside hitter Allyson Doyle (Battle Creek St. Phil) is the MAC West Defensive Volleyball Player of the Week for her performance at last weekend's Holiday Inn West Bronco Invitational. This is the first MAC weekly honor of Doyle's career. Doyle was named to the Holiday Inn West Bronco Invitational All-Tournament Team after her defensive effort in both the front row and back row helped WMU finish in second place and hold its three opponents to a .159 attack percentage. Doyle had 38 digs (3.8 dps), including 17 against Wake Forest and 14 against No. 33 Dayton, while adding eight blocks (.8 bps) with three each against Wake Forest and Illinois State. She also hit .300 and contributed 26 kills (2.6 kps).



Sophomore outside hitter Ashlee Crowder (Jenison) received the honor of being named the first GLIAC South Division Player of the Week of the 2009 season Tuesday afternoon. The award was announced by the conference office.  Crowder played a big part in leading the Hillsdale College volleyball team to a 4-0 record at the Colorado Springs Tournament over the weekend. She averaged more than 14 kills per match in leading the Chargers to the tournament championship.

Sophomore Ashley Nevelle (Caledonia) was named to the all-Tournament Team as the Oakland University volleyball team (3-0) used a final-day sweep, topping St. Francis (Pa.) 3-0 and Towson 3-2, to claim the West Virginia University tournament championship.

1995

Julie Sterk - South Christian - Miami of Ohio
Heather Velting - South Christian - Hope College

1996

Kristy Kale - Jackson - Grand Valley State

1997

Monique Goulet – East Kentwood - Wayne State & Grand Valley State

1998

Shannon Doyle - East Kentwood - Kent State University

1999

Kristi Price - Reed City - Eastern Michigan

2000

Jenny Rood - Rockford - Michigan State
Susan Poll - East Kentwood - Miami of Ohio
Cheryl Blok - East Kentwood - Eastern Michigan
Kele Eveland - East Kentwood - Georgia Tech University - Currently playing in Spain
Sarah Spaulding - East Kentwood - Hillsdale
Katie Wagenmaker - Jenison - Eastern Michigan
Erica Heisser - Forest Hills Central - Marquette University

2001

Kim Swenson - East Kentwood - Northwood University
Laura Bellinger – Portage Northern - North Alabama

2002

Alison Nykamp - Zeeland - Madonna University
Allison Park - Jenison - Cornerstone University
Natalie Kapteyn - East Kentwood - Ashland University - now in the Army, based in Korea
Whitney Lane - East Kentwood - Oakland University
Kathryn Babcock - Forest Hills Central - Western Michigan University
Caitlin White - Forest Hills Central - Furman University
Molly Young - Forest Hills Northern - Grand Valley State
Lindsey Taatjes - Forest Hills Northern - Taylor University

2004

Ki Eveland - East Kentwood - Boise State University
Jennifer Stewart - East Kentwood - Akron University
Madeline Means - East Kentwood - Bowling Green University
Alex Buth - East Grand Rapids - University of Colorado
Emily Nemmers - East Kentwood - Ferris State University
Emilie York - Forest Hills Northern - Taylor University

2005

Emily Wolthuis - South Christian - Robert Morris
Morgan Smith - Forest Hills Central - Hope College
Stephanie Helmus - South Christian - Dordt College
Stephanie Peuler - South Christian - Dordt College
Kylee Damstra - South Christian - Hope College
Lindsey Davis – Rockford - Glenville State
Caroline Frens – Jenison - Austin Peay
Krista Groce – East Kentwood - Kent State
Katie Greiner – East Kentwood - Indiana Wesleyan University

2006

Kyle Jelke – Forest Hills Central - Northwood
Lauren Reber – Flint Carmen-Ainsworth - GVSU
Liz Sundberg – West Ottawa - Toledo
Lisa Naymick – North Muskegon - Michigan State
Amanda Morley – West Ottawa - Oakland University
Teresa Borst – Zeeland - Hope College
Elyse Groh – Portage Central - St. Louis University
Stephanie McCarthy – Kenowa Hills - GVSU
Meghan Scanlon – Jenison - GVSU
Marcie Blacquiere – South Christian - Cornerstone
Janelle Beaudry – Forest Hills Northern - Eastern Michigan & GVSU
Brittany Bowen – Forest Hills Central - Western Kentucky
Alisha Glass – Leland - Penn State
Lauren Saelens – Kelloggsville - Glenville State
Jennifer Hecht - Leland - Glenville State
Whitney Tremain – East Kentwood - Michigan State/ GVSU 
Katie Vander Meer – East Kentwood - MSU/Aquinas
Meredith Young – Forest Hills Northern - GVSU
Kaity Gormley – Portage Central - GVSU
Inta Grinvalds – Portage Central - Madonna University
Holly Cousins – Forest Hills Central - Cornerstone University
Kristin Johnson - Lowell - University of Findlay

2007

Lisa Johnson - Lowell - Central Michigan
Megan Racette - East Kentwood - Western Michigan
Lauren Jones - East Kentwood - Kent State
Kelsey Jones - Forest Hills Northern - Wake Forest
Courtney McCotter - BC Lakeview - GVSU
Rachel Vanderwall - East Kentwood - Hillsdale
Taryn Parker - Caledonia - IPFW
Katie Schwarz - East Kentwood - Belmont
Allyson Doyle - St. Phil - Western Michigan
Stephanie Harmon - East Kentwood - Illinois Institute of Technology
Deena Blanchard - Sparta - Illinois Institute of Technology
Emily Good - Forest Hills Central - Eastern Michigan
Traci Baker - Tri-Unity - GVSU/Hope
Courtney McCotter - BC Lakeview - GVSU
Sara Lowe - Pennfield - GVSU
Jen Skinner - South Christian - Iowa Western CC
Alicia TerHaar - South Christian - Cornerstone

2008

Kim Stewart - University of Delaware
Anne Sutton - Ferris State
Ashlee Crowder - Hillsdale
Melanie Naber - Colorado
Casey Sines - Memphis
Chelsea Fraser-Lee - Spring Arbor
Amber Hargett - Aquinas
Ashley Nevelle - Cincinnati/Oakland
Michelle McMahon - Michigan
Ashley Kimball - Oakland
Lexi Adams - Belmont
Sam Wolffis - Hope

2009

Megan Steenhuysen - IPFW
Jessica Brown - Western Michigan
Megan Hendrickson - Duke
Taylor Root - Valparaiso
Morgan DeVries - Seton Hall
Jordyn Skinner - Western Kentucky
Marie Roof - Notre Dame
Megan LaValley - GRCC
Bailey Blank - Toledo
Jessica Bredeweg - Aquinas
Kate Zwier - Cornerstone
Courtney Earles - Hope
Danielle Humphries - Hope