Metro Sports Report

Coe nips Cornell in volleyball

The Coe women's volleyball team nipped Cornell, 25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-13, in a sea-saw battle Thursday night at Eby Fieldhouse that came down to the wire.

Olivia Leisinger led a balanced attack for the Kohawks with 16 kills. Lauren Himan had 15 kills, Brianna Smith 12, Mackenzie Harbaugh 10 and Lindsey Koch eight.

Harbaugh rolled up a whopping 53 assists in the five sets. Madi Miller had 13 digs and Meghan McClimon had 11.

Lauren Ahart topped Cornell with 12 kills.

Coe raised its record to 9-3. Cornell fell to 3-7.

Cedar Valley spiked by Easton Valley

The Cedar Valley Christian volleyball team lost to Easton Valley, 25-19, 25-17, 27-25, Thursday night at Cedar Valley.

Candace Wilson led the Huskies with 10 kills, eight digs and seven assists. Maggie Cach finished with 12 assists, eight digs and six kills.

Emma Slagle had 11 digs for Cedar Valley. Hannah Severson contributed eight digs.

Kernels pitchers shine in opener

COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. - Anyone expecting anything but another pitcher's duel when the Cedar Rapids Kernels lined up to face West Michigan in the first game of the Midwest League Championship Series Wednesday night has not been paying attention.

The Kernels swept their way into the finals on the strength of their starting pitching and had arguably their hottest pitcher, Felix Jorge, lined up to start Game 1 against Spencer Turnbull, the pitcher that MLB.com has ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the Detroit Tigers organization.

Turnbull, the Tigers' second-round pick in the 2014 draft, struck out five of the first 10 Kernels he faced, but Cedar Rapids touched the hard-throwing right-hander for three runs in the fifth inning and that was enough to claim the opener.

Jorge and two Kernels relievers shut down West Michigan, 5-0, before 2,802 fans at Fifth Third Ballpark.

Game 2 in the best-of-5 series is scheduled for Thursday night in Michigan, with Games 3, 4 and 5 scheduled for Cedar Rapids this Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The Whitecaps showed they can generate offense by scoring 14 runs on 22 hits in their Division Series-clinching win over Lansing on Monday, but they managed just five hits off Cedar Rapids pitching Wednesday.

Coaching staff feels at home in playoffs

COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. - The Cedar Rapids Kernels have not appeared in a championship series since they claimed the Midwest League title in 1994, but the men leading the Kernels against West Michigan this week are no strangers to the championship series environment.

Manager Jake Mauer, hitting coach Tommy Watkins and pitching coach Henry Bonilla all have competed for minor league titles as players and/or coaches.

Watkins was part of the Appalachian League championship team at Elizabethton in 2000 as a player. A year later, Mauer’s Rookie team at Elizabethton fell in the championship series when he was a player as well.

“We lost on a balk," Mauer said Wednesday. "Unfortunate it ended that way.”

Watkins and Bonilla played for the Rochester Red Wings when they fell in the finals of the Triple-A championship series in 2006.