By Mike Walsh
Correspondent
The month of March has been very good to Olivet Nazarene men’s volleyball player Jake Ostema. The 6-foot-8 senior middle hitter earned consecutive Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference player of the week honors.
For the time period ending March 5, Ostema was named the CCAC Defender of the Week. The Sandburg graduate from Orland Park recorded 13 blocks over 10 sets (1.3 avg.) with no less than three blocks in any one match. He averaged 1.8 kills per set and had a .344 attack percentage.
His biggest match came in a four-set win over St. Ambrose, in which he recorded six blocks. He had another four blocks in a three-set win against Cardinal Stritch University.
One week later, Ostema was honored as the CCAC Attacker of the Week afer he tallied 39 kills and registered a .561 attack percentage for the seven-day timeframe ending March 12. He resident averaged three kills per set and also totaled four blocks.
His biggest performance of the week came in a four-set win over league rival Judson University, in which he delivered 15 kills on a .500 attack percentage to go with four digs.
Two days later, he produced 11 kills against only one error in 16 chances (.625) in a sweep of Park University Gilbert (Arizona.). He also notched nine kills on a .538 hitting clip in a match against NCAA Division I Grand Canyon.
Ostema has helped the Tigers to an overall record of 18-7 and 11-2 in the CCAC. Olivet Nazarene placed second in the conference during the regular season.
National Runner-up
Marist graduate Sydney Affolter had a sophomore season to remember as a member of the Iowa women’s basketball team, which lost the NCAA women’s national championship game to LSU on April 2.
Affolter played 31 minutes during the Hawkeyes’ six-game run to a runner-up finish. She grabbed three rebounds, dished out four assists and had one steal during a first-round win over Southeast Louisiana, and scored four points to go with one board in an Elite Eight victory over Louisville.
For the season she played in 36 games, averaging 10.5 minutes, 2.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and one assist. Among the highlights of her second season in Iowa City were a 14-point, eight-rebound and two steal performance in a win over Maryland on Feb. 21, and scoring 11 point to go with three rebounds in the Big 10 championship game victory over Ohio State.
A Take about Jake
Cardinal Stritch University Jake Evanish was honored as the CCAC Setter of the Week in men’s volleyball for March 12 as he delivered an average of 9.5 assists per set over his four matches. Evanish, a Brother Rice product, totaled a season-high 54 assists in a four-set victory against Roosevelt University. The senior also had 35 assists against Campbellsville University (Kentucky.).
Evanish’s other statistics included five blocks and a 1.000 digs-per-set average.
On the season for the Wolves, Evanish was first in assists with 510, second in digs with 77 and fifth in service aces with 11 as Cardinal Stritch finished 6-12 overall and 3-10 in conference.
Kudos for Kaylen
Nazareth graduate Kaylen Evans was one of two Morton College women’s basketball players chosen to the 12-player All-Tournament Team at the NJCAA Division II National Tournament held in Port Huron, Mich.
Evans, a 5-6 sophomore guard, averaged 18.3 points and made 16 3-pointers during the Panthers’ four games in the tournament. She had 23 points in a 78-47 opening-round victory over United Tribes and a 69-61 win over Bryant & Stratton in the national fifth-place game.
On the season, Evans started and appeared in 33 games. She averaged a team-best 18.2 points per game and totaled a team-leading 600 points. She placed second in 3-pointers made (108) and sixth in assists (65) and steals (53).
The Panthers finished the season 34-1 overall and 14-0 in the Skyway Conference.