November 3, 2006
Release courtesy of Matt Turk, Simpson College sports information director

INDIANOLA, IOWA . . . Simpson and Central, the top two seeds, advanced to the Saturday, Nov. 3 finals of the Iowa Conference Volleyball Tournament with wins Friday night in Indianola. The Storm (25-10), the tournament’s top seed, rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the No. 5 seed Wartburg (17-19) 3-2 (19-30, 28-30, 30-23, 30-23, 15-13). Erika Amfahr posted a career high 20 kills to pace the Storm offense. She hit .364 for the match (20-4-44). Jayna Fischbach recorded season higs with 16 kills and 21 digs. Iowa Conference MVP Tiffany Everding charted her 24th double-double of the season with 15 kills and 12 digs. Wartburg was led by Ashley Rogers who had 14 kills and 21 digs. Kelsey Steffens tallied 13 kills while Knights’ setter Traci Robinson had 38 assists and 11 digs.

Central (24-9), the tournament’s No. 2 seed had an easier time as the 18th ranked Dutch swept the No. 3 seed Coe (30-21, 33-31, 30-19). Katie Johnson led Central with 17 kills and a .462 hitting percentage (17-5-26). Tessa Prati had 12 kills while setter Terri Berger had 45 assists. The Kohawks’ (26-7) Nicole Spree led the offense with 11 kills. Rachel Schmidt registered a double-double of 10 kills and 11 digs.

Wartburg advanced to semifinals with a first round victory over No. 4 seed Buena Vista (16-17) earlier in the day. The Knights defeated the Beavers 26-30, 30-25, 30-21, 31-29. Steffens posted a match high 19 kills to go along with 11 digs. Rogers had 18 kills and 24 digs while Jessica Bates, an Indianola native, had 13 kills. Ashley Steines, the Wartburg libero had a tournament high 41 digs in the contest. Buena Vista’s leader on offense was Kristen Staiert who totaled 18 kills, 23 digs, and five blocks. Ashley Wilde had 11 kills for BV.

Coe advanced to the semis with a 3-1 (30-26, 21-30, 30-25, 30-18) victory over the No. 6 seed, Loras (18-18). Emily Ita had 16 kills to lead the Kohawks. Amber Karkosh recorded a double-double of 11 kills and 10 digs. Loras was paced by Kate Sievers who had 19 kills and eight digs. Jenna Kollasch and Katharine Connolly each charted 14 kills for the Duhawks.

Simpson defeated the Dutch earlier this season 3-1 in Pella. The teams tied for the Iowa Conference Championship. The winner of Saturday’s match receives an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament which is scheduled to get underway next week.

Quarterfinals
No. 3 Coe College def. No.6 Loras College 30-26,21-30,30-25,30-18 Box Score
Loras College (18-18) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Kate Sievers 19-1-2; Katharine Connolly 14-1-0; Jenna Kollasch 14-0-0; Betsy Neverman 8-2-3; Jenny Dziubla 2-0-2; Maggie Hugulet 2-0-0; Michelle Bahl 0-2-0; Totals 59-6-6.0. (Assists) - Jenny Dziubla 50. (Dig leaders) - Michelle Bahl 21; Katharine Connolly 15; Jenny Dziubla 9; Kate Sievers8; Jamie Mayer 8

Coe College (26-6) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Emily Ita 16-0-5; Amber Karkosh 11-0-2; Shannon Nelson 9-3-3; Nicole Spree 9-0-4; Rachel Schmidt 8-2-3; Kristy Upah 1-0-4; Totals 54-5-12.0. (Assists) – Kristy Upah 50. (Dig leaders) - Nicole Spree 20; Rachel Schmidt 16; Shannon Nelson 13; Amber Karkosh 10.

No. 5 Wartburg College def. No. 6 Buena Vista University 26-30,30-25,30-21,31-29 Box Score
Wartburg (17-18) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Kelsey Steffens 19-0-1; Ashley Rogers 18-0-7; Jessica Bates 13-0-3; Sheena Treanor 9-0-5; Liz Plum 4-3-6; Traci Robinson 3-1-0; Ashley Steines 0-1-0; Totals 66-5-13.0. (Assists) - Traci Robinson 57. (Dig leaders) - Ashley Steines 41; Heather Harvey 25; Ashley Rogers 24; Traci Robinson 18; Leigh Christensen 15; Kelsey Steffens 11

Buena Vista (16-17) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Kristen Staiert 18-1-5; Ashley Wilde 11-0-3; Tiff Riffle 9-0-4; Kelli Luitjens 8-0-5; Lindsey Andeson 7-0-0; Betsy Behrens 1-0-0; Molly Reuter 0-2-1; Totals 54-3-10.0. (Assists) - Molly Reuter 44. (Dig leaders) - Betsy Behrens 27; Molly Reuter 25; Kristen Staiert 23; Lindsey Andeson 17; Jess Wilcox 15.

Semifinals
No. 1 Simpson College def. No. 5 Wartburg College 19-30,28-30,30-23,30-23,15-13 Box Score
Wartburg (Kills-aces-blocks) - Ashley Rogers 14-0-5; Kelsey Steffens 13-0-0; Liz Plum 9-2-8; Jessica Bates 8-0-4; Sheena Treanor 8-0-10; Traci Robinson 0-2-2; Ashley Steines 0-2-0; Totals 52-6-17.0. (Assists) - Traci Robinson 38. (Dig leaders) - Ashley Steines 29; Ashley Rogers 21; Heather Harvey 16; Traci Robinson 11

Simpson (25-10) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Erika Amfahr 20-0-0; Jayna Fischbach 16-1-2; Tiffany Everding 15-4-1; Janay Michel 15-0-3; Jessica Martin 13-1-2; Tara Christensen 4-1-1; Brittany Frieseth 0-1-0; Totals 83-8-5.0. (Assists) - Tara Christensen 69. (Dig leaders) – Brittany Frieseth 24; Jayna Fischbach 21; Jessica Martin 20; Tara Christensen 13; Tiffany Everding 12; Brianna Goodall 9

No. 2 Central College def. No. 3 Coe College 30-21,33-31,30-19 Box Score
Coe College (26-7) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Nicole Spree 11-0-0; Rachel Schmidt 10-1-1; Amber Karkosh 9-0-1; Emily Ita 9-0-1; Shannon Nelson 5-0-1; Kristy Upah 1-0-0; Totals 45-1-3.0. (Assists) - Kristy Upah 40. (Dig leaders) - Shannon Nelson 13; Amber Karkosh 11; Rachel Schmidt 11; Autumn Ingalls 9; Kristy Upah 9; Nicole Spree 8

Central College (24-9) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Katie Johnson 17-1-6; Tessa Prati 12-0-2; Alicia Whisner 8-2-0; Garra Williams 6-0-2; Miranda Kouba 6-1-2; Terri Berger 4-2-2; Maggie Nowicki 0-4-0; Whitney Taylor 0-1-0; Totals 53-11-8.0. (Assists) - Terri Berger 45. (Dig leaders) - Alicia Whisner 23; Maggie Nowicki 21; Miranda Kouba 11

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