April 12, 2005
Release courtesy of Nick Huber, Buena Vista Univ. sports information director

STORM LAKE, IOWA . . . Buena Vista University athletic director Jan Travis has announced that head volleyball and assistant women's basketball coach Amy Sander has resigned in order to accept the head women's basketball coaching position at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Sander’s resignation will be effective June 1.

Sander has been at Buena Vista since the fall of 2000. During her five seasons as the head volleyball coach, the program increased its winning percentage each year. Her first team posted a record of 3-18, while the 2004 squad amassed a record of 14-16. Sander’s all-time record at Buena Vista is 52-96.

“Amy brought stability and strong leadership to the volleyball program, which we greatly needed when she arrived,” stated Travis. “She has always been a real team player and will definitely be missed by the entire athletic department.”

Sander has been the top assistant women's basketball coach for head coach Janet Barry at Buena Vista since 2000-01. During that span, the squad has posted a record of 91-45. Buena Vista has won the Iowa Conference championship each of the past two seasons and has made two consecutive appearances in the NCAA national tournament.

“I have nothing but positive things to say about my time at Buena Vista,” Sander commented. “It has been great to work with Jan Travis, Coach Berry and the entire athletic department. I will truly miss working with the student-athletes, both volleyball and basketball. I wish them nothing but the best. I can only hope they learned as much from me as I learned from them.”

Prior to joining the staff at Buena Vista, Sander was an assistant volleyball and basketball coach at Albion College in Albion, Mich. for three years. While at Albion, Sander helped turn around a program which was on the bottom of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association to a team which earned a third place finish in 1999.

Sander was a four-year letterwinner in basketball at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. Sander also excelled in the classroom and was named three times to the Ohio Athletic Conference All-Academic Team. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Baldwin-Wallace in 1995. Sander earned her Masters in Education from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio in 1997.

This will be Sander's first opportunity to be the head coach of a women's basketball team. She will be taking over for former Nebraska Wesleyan head coach Brad White, who resigned after this past season. The Prairie Wolves, members of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, compete at the NCAA III level in women's basketball.

Travis has stated that a national search for Sander’s replacement will begin later this month.

-30-