Chipping up the charts
Bulldog men’s golf will start the 2017-18 season as the No. 12 ranked team in the nation, according to the Golf Coaches Association of America Division II Preseason Coaches’ Poll, marking the program’s highest ranking preseason ranking ever.
The Dawgs’ first tournament of the season begins on Saturday, Sept. 9 at SVSU Al Watrous Invitational in Saginaw, where they will be the only GLIAC team in attendance that has a spot on the preseason poll.
This is an impressive accomplishment for second year Head Coach Kyle Wittenbach who was appointed as the head coach just over a year ago.
The program made it all the way to the NCAA Division II Quarterfinals last season before being beaten by Florida Southern, the 2017-18 No. 1 ranked team according to the same poll.
Soccer’s slow start
Bulldog women’s soccer opened up their 2017 regular season on the road in a 0-2 loss against Carson-Newman.
Making the long trip down to Tennessee to kick off the year, the Dawgs defended well against Carson-Newman early on, holding back the offense of the Eagles in the first half. The Dawgs were unable to capitalize on the defensive battle, ultimately leaving the game with no scores and just two shots on goal.
Ferris soccer was able to knock in three goals in late August against Calvin in exhibition, a sign that the young team will be able to kick it into gear and get their offense rolling. With 14 freshmen on the team, the program can only learn and get better from here.
The Dawgs are back in action against Minnesota State for their first home game of the regular season on Friday, Sept. 8 at 4 p.m.
Volleyball in good shape
Every team sees potential changes to their program after seniors graduate but the Bulldog volleyball program doesn’t have to worry about that.
Of the five top point scorers on the 2016-17 program, only one of them has graduated. Sophomore outside hitter Allyson Cappel led everyone as a freshman with 520.5 total points, followed closely behind by senior Ayanna Buckley who ended her season with 405.5 points.
Senior middle hitter Maria Kronner and junior outside hitter Katie Placek are the next two highest point scorers, with graduated senior Stephanie Sikorski following up the pack as the fifth leading scorer.
Four of these five women remain on the team and they look to keep an early undefeated streak alive on Friday, Sept. 8 in Denver against the University of Tampa in the Colorado Premier Tourney.
For more Sports Shorts, click here.