Davenport Hosted Five Conference Rivals in Saturday's Tournament
Saturday, February 4, Davenport's men's volleyball team hosted a tournament against inter-conference rivals. The teams included Grand Valley, Calvin, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, and Bowling Green. Last year the Panthers held the same tournament and went 3-3; however, this year they improved their record to 5-0. Each team played five matches, they were best of three and one match against each opponent.
Davenport vs. Western Michigan: 25-13, 25-23
The Panther's first win was against Western Michigan. The team had a strong hitting game with a hitting percentage of .344 (32 kills, 10 errors off of 64 attempts), 29 total assists, 24 digs, and three service aces.
Kills: Nathanael Vander Meer (12)
Total Attacks: Vander Meer (23)
Hitting Percentage: (with 6 or more kills) Sean Cox (.750)
Assists: Christopher Croft (29)
Aces: Three-way tie between Jason Mais, Jordan McCulloch and Croft (1)
Digs: Khari Jones (7)
Points: Vander Meer (12)
Davenport vs. Grand Valley: 27-25, 25-14
The Panthers second win was against Grand Valley, who they played one and a half weeks ago during a regular season match. Davenport had a hitting percentage of .289 with 31 kills, nine errors and 76 attempts. The team also gathered 29 digs and two point five total blocks.
Kills: Vander Meer (13)
Total Attacks: Vander Meer (24)
Hitting Percentage: (with more than 5 kills) Vander Meer (.500)
Assists: Croft (22)
Block Assists: Two-way tie between McCulloch and Cox (2)
Solo Blocks: Croft (1)
Aces: McCulloch (1)
Digs: McCulloch (8)
Davenport vs. Central Michigan: 25-15, 25-20
Central Michigan was the third match of the day. The Panthers won with a hitting percentage of .267 with 27 kills, 11 errors and 60 total attempts. They also gathered three aces, seven total blocks, 22 assists, and 17 digs.
Kills: Vander Meer (9)
Hitting Percentage: (over 5 kills) Cox (.571)
Assists: Croft (19)
Block Assists: Three-way tie between Vander Meer, Jason Mais and Jacob Mais (2)
Solo Blocks: Tie between McCulloch and John Pylman
Aces: Vander Meer (2)
Digs: Pylman (4)
Davenport vs. Calvin College: 25-15, 25-17
Ten of the 12 players saw court time in the fourth win of the day against the Knights of Calvin College. Davenport had a hitting percentage of .510 with 29 kills, four errors and 49 attempts. The team totaled 23 digs, two blocks, three service aces, and 25 assists.
Kills: Vander Meer (8)
Hitting Percentage: (6 kills or more) Cox (.857)
Assists: Croft (20)
Block Assists: Tie between Cox and Croft (1)
Solo Blocks: Cox (1)
Aces: three-way tie between Vander Meer, Jordan Ellsworth and Croft (1)
Digs: Vander Meer (5)
Davenport vs. Bowling Green: 25-21, 25-19
The final match, and win, was against Bowling Green State University. The Panthers gathered a hitting percentage of .357 with 29 kills and nine errors. The team totaled 16 digs, 27 assists, four aces, and four blocks.
Kills: Vander Meer (9)
Hitting Percentage: Cox (.600)
Assists: Croft (27)
Block Assists: Croft (2)
Solo Blocks: Vander Meer (2)
Aces: Tie between Croft and Vander Meer (2)
Digs: Jason Mais (5)
Davenport has seen three of the five teams (Grand Valley, Central and Western) they played this weekend in earlier matches, preseason or regular season, conference matches. This weekend's wins bring the previously 7-2 record to 12-2. The Panthers look forward to continuing their win streak in two weeks when they play Lincoln College, February 17 at 7:30p.m.
Story by: Megan Vander Meer
