Masterminds Beyond the Net
Seniors Amanda Bandrowski (right) and Claire Hallock (left) have been a formidable force for the Hope women’s tennis team since they set foot in the Etheridge Tennis Complex as freshmen. Each plays at one of the top-two singles spots and together they play No. 1 doubles. Their Hope résumés speak volumes of athletic and academic achievement: Bandrowski was the MIAA MVP in 2018, Hallock earned that honor in 2019; both are two-time MIAA Academic Honor Roll honorees and three-time MIAA league champs; and, both spent their summer of 2019 working on their futures — Bandrowski interned at the USTA National Center in Orlando, Florida, while Hallock conducted research at Hope on solar-cell technology. When the 2020 season starts for the Flying Dutch tennis team in February, the dynamic duo will look to simultaneously achieve one more thing: They’ll chase the career-best singles record for Hope women’s tennis, currently owned by Audrey Coates ’97 Akland (87-17). At the time of Orange and Blue Illustrated’s publication, Bandrowski’s singles record was 81-13; Hallock’s was 76-12.
Help a Guy Out?
Basketball student-athlete Preston Granger was down but not out in a game at Hope’s DeVos Fieldhouse last season. The junior center’s hustle landed him temporarily on the sideline where he received a little help from his friends in the front row, as well as from thousands of cheering Hope fans throughout the arena. That kind of support is a DeVos Fieldhouse norm for Granger and his teammates — and for the Hope College women’s basketball team, too. Since 1998-99, both the Flying Dutchmen and Flying Dutch have led NCAA Division III in average home basketball attendance. The 11-consecutive-seasons feat makes playing at home a verifiable pick-me-up.
Head and Shoulders Above
In the individual medley, junior Emma Schaefer has to be able do it all — butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle — and fast. Which she
does. Schaefer is the defending MIAA champion in both the 200- and 400-yard individual medley and the school record holder in the former. Yet, she is not only versatile in the pool. An MIAA Academic Honor Roll and dean’s list student-athlete from DeWitt, Michigan, who majors in exercise science and plans to attend medical school, Schaefer spent much of the summer of 2019 abroad, first studying in Austria and then serving on a Hope SEED mission trip in Zambia.
Leading with the Face-Off
As a face-off specialist, Cole Scheffler got every game started for the 2019 Hope men’s lacrosse team. It’s a job that can be easily overlooked, but face-off specialists play a major role in getting the ball rolling, passing, shooting and scoring. Scheffler, from Rockford, Michigan, won 138-of-207 face-offs overall (66%) while going 58-for-79 (73%) in the league, so he was named to the 2019 All-MIAA First Team as a freshman for good reason. Those starts were as instrumental as goals, assists and defense in the 2019 Flying Dutchmen’s overall record (14-4), second MIAA regular-season championship, and first-ever MIAA tournament title as well as NCAA playoff berth.