November 12, 2003

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Simpson College junior hitter Shannon Stewart (Urbandale, Iowa/Urbandale HS) was named the 2003 IIAC Volleyball Most Valuable Player. Buena Vista University head coach Amy Sander and Central College head coach Kent Clayberg were named the 2003 IIAC Volleyball co-Coaches of the Year.

Stewart ranked among the Conference leaders in three statistical categories, leading the IIAC with 4.33 kills per game (130 kills in 30 games). She also ranked fourth with a .302 hitting percentage (130 kills-43 errors-288 total attacks) and 12th in the IIAC with 0.87 blocks per game in eight Conference matches. Overall, Stewart led the Storm in kills (486), kills per game (3.95) and service aces (46). She ranked second on the team in hitting percentage (.317), blocks (152) and blocks per game (1.24).

Sander led sixth-seeded Buena Vista to the Championship match of the Conference Tournament before losing to Wartburg in three games. During her four-year tenure, Buena Vista has improved from winning just three of 21 matches in her first year to posting a 14-20 overall record this season and a 3-5 mark in the Iowa Conference. It is the schools best record since posting a 15-17 overall record and a 4-6 IIAC record in 1998.

Clayberg is in his first season as head coach at Central after spending five years as an assistant/associate head coach for the Dutch. This season Central won its 13th straight Iowa Conference title and is appearing in its eighth NCAA Tournament. The Dutch enter the NCAA Tournament with a 26-9 overall record and finished with an 8-0 record in the IIAC. Central has been ranked in the top-15 of the American Volleyball Coaches Association Poll all season and currently ranks 13th.

The IIAC also announced today the Volleyball All-Conference Team. The 16-member Team includes eight First Team players and eight Second Team players. Conference Champion Central had four players earn All-Conference honors. Conference Tournament Champion Wartburg had five All-Conference players, including two First Team selections.

The complete 2003 IIAC All-Conference Volleyball Team is here.

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