Grace Roundup: Tennis Team Continues Hot StartSPRING ARBOR, Mich. – Grace College’s women’s tennis team continued its strong start to the Crossroads League season by beating Spring Arbor 8-1 on Friday.
The Lady Lancers (4-1, 3-1 CL) won all three doubles’ matches to get an important advantage on the road. But every doubles’ court was hotly contested.
Emily Mast and Jenna Jackson battled to an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles, and Jayna Armstrong and Morgan Mast won by the identical score at No. 3 doubles.
Carrie Copeland and Molly Fitzpatrick secured the doubles’ sweep with an 8-5 victory at No. 2 doubles.
Emily Mast and Copeland were nearly unstoppable at the top two singles’ positions, only dropping two games apiece. Armstrong was equally impressive with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 4 singles.
Jackson pulled out a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 3 singles, and Morgan Mast took care of business at No. 6 singles with a 6-1, 6-4 victory.
“We battled and managed to win all three doubles matches, which was huge,” said Grace head coach Marcus Moore. “Carrie played particularly well in her singles’ match, and it seems like Emily is recovering from her injury. She was locked in tonight.”
The Lady Lancers return home on Saturday for an 11 a.m. match against Mt. Vernon Nazarene at Miller Athletic Complex.
Volleyball
WINONA LAKE – Grace College’s volleyball team benefitted from a rambunctious crowd at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center to beat Spring Arbor 3-1 on Friday.
The Lady Lancers (8-3, 2-1 Crossroads League) were led by the three-headed attack of seniors Marta Bleed, Kelsee Zuidema and Caylie Teel in a hard-fought contest.
Zuidema and Bleed tied for match honors with 15 kills, and Zuidema added three aces and three block assists. Teel was dynamic on both ends of the court, tallying 11 kills and a season-high 26 digs.
Bleed and Zuidema were electric from the start on Friday. The duo combined for 12 kills in the first set alone, helping Grace to a 25-20 win.
In the second set, Grace slowly built up a lead en route to a six-point win. Teel racked up six kills in the set, and Zuidema aced twice.
The Cougars (9-4, 0-3 CL) found revenge in the third set. SAU hit at a .313 percentage and held Grace to just six kills in a 25-12 route.
The match seemed poised to head to extra sets as the Cougars grabbed momentum late. Grace held a comfortable 21-14 lead in the fourth set before seeing it evaporate entirely. SAU went on an 8-1 run to tie the score at 22-22.
The Cougars held off one match point to tie the game again at 24-24, but Grace ended the match with an authoritative kill by Zuidema and an attack error by the Cougars.
Alexa Hill was the mastermind behind Grace’s attack, passing out 43 assists and adding nine digs and four block assists.
Makaela Lochmueller had five kills and a season-best seven block assists, and Hanna Leach added three kills off the bench in her return from injury.
Grace and SAU hit at an identical .146 percentage, but Grace had an edge in blocks and digs. The Lady Lancers had nine block points as a team to go along with 80 digs.
Gina Novotny (16 digs), Deborah Michalski (13 digs) and Makayla Bell (11 digs) were consistent contributors on the back line defensively. Michalski’s 13 digs were a career high.
The Lady Lancers will face one of their stiffest tests of the season on Saturday. Grace plays at league-leading No. 19 St. Francis at 4 p.m., hoping to snap a 10-match winning streak by USF.
Men’s Soccer
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – A pair of late goals helped Grace’s men’s soccer team come away with a 3-1 win over a tough Roosevelt squad on Friday.
The match was played at Chicago’s Toyota Park, home to the MLS’s Chicago Fire.
The Lancers (4-1-1) claimed their third consecutive victory thanks to two goals in the final 16 minutes of play.
“We played as a team tonight, and everybody showed up to work. Roosevelt is a good team, and they are well-coached, so this is a quality win,” said Grace head coach Matt Hotchkin. “I was proud of the way the guys did everything today. They traveled well, they prepared well and then they executed well.”
In the first half, the Lakers (1-4) were primarily muted on offense. Grace held Roosevelt to just one shot attempt and two corners over the first 45 minutes.
The Lancers were unable to transform any of their four shots or five corners in the half into goals, setting up a blank slate for the second half.
Both teams picked up their attack after a scoreless first half. The Lancers got on the scoreboard first in the 66th minute.
Breno Oliveira sent in a long free kick towards Roosevelt’s goal, and Togo Narusawa was there to finish it off for his first goal of the season.
Roosevelt did not waste much time fighting back. The Lakers needed less than seven minutes to tie the score, finishing off a loose ball at the 72:11 mark.
Grace quickly snuffed out any momentum Roosevelt had with the game-winning goal two minutes later. Cody Boerema teed up Ivan Santagiuliana for a goal off a corner kick at the 74:32 mark.
The win was secured in the final minutes. Cole Voss helped spark a dangerous attack along the right side of the field, and Boerema was there to finish off the goal in the 85th minute.
Grace had a slight upper hand in offense statistically. The Lancers held a 12-9 advantage in shots with both teams recording eight shots after halftime. Grace also had an 11-5 edge in corner kicks.
Kurt Hamlin earned the win as goalkeeper, making four saves in 90 minutes.
Narusawa led Grace with three shots, and Boerema, Santagiuliana and Nikola Djordjevic each took two shots.
“We learned some things about our team today, and I think now our eyes are wide open. We are excited about our growth,” Hotchkin continued. “We have to improve still in a lot of areas, and tomorrow we will begin preparing for next week. But for tonight we are happy and thankful for a good day of work.”
The Lancers continue on the road Wednesday, taking on Holy Cross at 4 p.m.
Cross Country
MARION – Grace’s cross country team got the 2018 season officially underway with the IWU Invitational on Friday.
The men’s team finished seventh out of 10 teams, while the women were ninth.
Elijah Brooks was the fastest men’s runner, finishing in 41st place in a time of 28:28.
The next four runners for the Lancers finished within 15 seconds of each other. Ben Rankin (28:55) and Brendan Hamilton (28:58) were neck-and-neck, and John Marhefka’s 29:04 and Matt Halbakken’s 29:10 were close behind.
Alex Brummett was not far back as the team’s sixth finisher with a time of 29:29.
Carmen Trier excelled in her first race as a Lady Lancer. The freshman ran in a time of 20:27, good for 33rd place. Alison Coleman was next for the women in a time of 21:52.
Heather Plastow and Suzanne Sickafoose finished third and fourth with sub-22:20 times. Morgan Mower crossed the finish line in 23:33, and Makenzie Adams was next in 23:59.
The Lancers’ next race is the Ray Bullock Invitational in Upland, Ind., on Sept. 21.
