November 4, 2006

INDIANOLA, IOWA . . . In a match-up of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) volleyball Co-Champions, Simpson College defeated Central College, 3-0 (30-22, 30-27, 30-26) in the Championship Match of the IIAC Tournament at Simpson on Saturday. With the victory, the Storm are the IIAC’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament set to begin Thursday, November 9, at a site to be determined.

Simpson improved to 26-10 on the season with its victory, the most wins in a season for the Storm since going 29-6 in 1991. The Storm were led by the 25th and 24th double-doubles of the season by outside hitter Tiffany Everding and middle hitter Jessica Martin, respectively. Everding had 12 kills and 10 digs to go along with a .444 hitting percentage. Martin had 13 digs and 11 kills. Libero Brittany Frieseth had a match-high 26 digs, setting a new career-best. Setter Tara Christensen had 33 assists.

Central fell to 24-10 on the year. The Dutch were led by outside hitter Katie Johnson with a team-high 17 kills and .343 hitting percentage. Outside hitters Tessa Prati had nine kills and 11 digs, Alicia Whisner had 18 digs and Miranda Kouba had 13 digs. Setter Terri Berger had 32 assists.

Simpson will be making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1997. Central and Coe both hold hopes of receiving a Pool C bid to the Tournament field that will be announced Sunday evening by the NCAA. Coe has been ranked fourth in each of the NCAA Regional rankings released to date and Central has been sixth in the final three rankings after opening at #7.

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