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For Immediate Release
November 8, 2006
NWU tournament match to be webcast
A web cast will be available for No. 8 seed Nebraska
Wesleyan’s match vs. No. 1 seed Washington (Mo.) University
at 8:30 on Thursday night.
Nebraska Wesleyan is making its third NCAA Division
III Volleyball Championship appearance in a row under Head Coach
Gina Chambers and 10th in team history. The Prairie Wolves have
received a bid in five of the last six years and eight of the last
11. NWU made its first NCAA appearance in 1982 and advanced the
farthest in 1998, losing 3-1 to Central College in the third round.
In the first round of the NCAA Div. III tournament
last year, the Prairie Wolves pushed then-ranked College of St.
Benedict to five games and held match point three times in the fourth
set before falling to the Blazers, 28-30, 30-23, 25-30, 32-30, 15-10.
Other NCAA tournament notes:
| • NWU middle blocker
Amy Vanderkolk (Sr., Malcolm, Neb., Malcolm High School) is
up for All-GPAC honors for the third year in a row, despite
being the shortest middle blocker in the conference at 5-foot-8.
She leads the team in kills (303), kills per game (3.06),
hitting percentage (.236), total blocks (118)and blocks per
game (1.19). She has also earned multiple All-America honors
in the sprint hurdles for the Nebraska Wesleyan track team
and has already been accepted to physical therapy school.
• Vanderkolk was named MVP of the All-Tournament
Team as NWU went undefeated at the Colorado College’s
2006 Molten Spike It Up Classic in mid-October. The Prairie
Wolves are 1-1 against teams in the NCAA Division III Championship
field this year, having defeated 23-10 Colorado College, 3-2,
and having lost to 26-10 Simpson College, 3-0, back in September. |
Amy Vanderkolk |
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NWU libero Linsey Thomsen (Jr., Beatrice, Neb., Beatrice High
School) is already the Nebraska Wesleyan career leader in digs
with 2,056 (an average of 6.85 per game over the last three
seasons). Her 793 digs this year have far surpassed the NWU
single-season record for digs established by Thomsen last year
as a sophomore (673).
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Linsey Thomsen |
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• NWU is the only
NCAA Division III institution in the Great Plains Athletic
Conference, a 13-team league affiliated with the NAIA. The
Prairie Wolves finished 14-14 overall, but made the tournament
as a result of their 8-3 record vs. Div. III in-region opponents.
•Coach Chambers, then Gina Duensing,
earned four letters and was a four-year starter and All-Conference
honoree as a Nebraska Wesleyan volleyball player from 1992-95.
She was also a three-year letter winner and All-Conference
selection in women’s basketball before she graduated
in 1997 with a degree in biopsychology. Her overall head coaching
record entering the 2006 NCAA tournament is 44-42. Earlier
this season, Chambers gave birth to her third daughter on
Sunday, Sept. 24 and was back on the court coaching on Friday
night, Sept. 29.
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