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HASTINGS - First-year Hastings College head volleyball coach Lori Willadsen isn’t sure what to expect when the Broncos open their season Friday at the St. Ambrose Early bird Tournament.

“I don’t know much about it,” Willadsen said of the tournament. “I’m not necessarily worried about the tournament. I’m more concerned with my team. It’s nice that we’ll be able to travel together to Davenport, Iowa, which is a stretch away. To be together as a team before classes start, I think that’s rare, the fact that the girls aren’t juggling athletics and academics at the same time.”

SUTTON – Sutton has decided to look within its own program to find its next head volleyball coach.

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The Hastings College volleyball team defeated Midland Lutheran 27-25, 25-13, 25-20 in their conference opener in Fremont.

Kendra Schwein led the offense once again with 14 kills, while Kelsey Wells had 8, Allie Mohrman and Leah Dostal each had 7 kills to balance the attack. Haley Beardsley and Lindsey Sitorius shared the setting duties with 28 and 14 assists apiece. Liz Van Kirk and Christina Headrick each served 2 aces, while Melynne Kessler dug up 26 attacks. Mohrman and Dostal lead the defense at the net with 3 blocks apiece.

The 2010 Preseason GPAC Volleyball Coaches’ Poll was released Monday.

Northwestern College is the coaches’ pick to win the GPAC in 2010 following a 36-3 record and a trip to the NAIA National Tournament quarterfinals a year ago. The Red Raiders earned 121 points and secured 11 first place votes in the poll. Morningside College is second with 101 points, and Doane College rounds out the top three with 97 points. Dordt College is fourth with 96 points and the final first place vote.

The 2010 GPAC volleyball season will consist of 16 conference matches with 12 teams competing for the conference title.

1. Northwestern College – 121 Points (11 first place votes)

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The Hastings College volleyball team (10-0) won all 4 of their matches at the College of St Mary tournament over the weekend. The Broncos defeated College of St Mary 25-22, 25-18, 21-25, 25-10, then beat Johnson and Wales College 25-13, 25-9, 25-10.

Three Broncos hit for double-digit kills against College of St Mary - Kendra Schwein had 13 kills, Leah Dostal and Katie Moeller had 10 kills apiece. Haley Beardsley and Lindsey Sitorius set for 18 and 27 assists respectively. Liz Van Kirk, Tracia Norblade, and Melynne Kessler each had 2 ace serves. Kessler added 23 digs. Allie Mohrman, Kelsey Wells, and Moeller combined for 16 blocks.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. - Day two of the Niagara Falls Early Bird Splash started off with a victory for the Hastings College Broncos as they defeated host Daemen College in 4 sets, scores of 25-19, 17-25, 25-19, 15-15. The Broncos finished up the weekend with a sweep of Roberts Weslyan University 25-10, 25-16, 25-10.

The Broncos spread out the offense against Daemen College with Kendra Schwein leading with 8 kills, while Allie Mohrman, Tracia Norblade, Kelsey Wells, and Katie Moeller were directly behind her, all with 7 kills apiece. Moeller was successful on all 7 of her kill attempts for a 1.000 hitting percentage. Getting them the ball was Lyndi Rouzee with 38 assists. Liz Van Kirk and Melynne Kessler covered the back court for 12 and 10 digs respectively. Mohrman had 4 blocks at the net to stop the Wildcats.

SEWARD - Shelli Mohnike was recently hired as an assistant coach for the Concordia University volleyball team.

Mohnike was an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s volleyball teams at Missouri Baptist University from 2004-06. She helped the Missouri Baptist women’s team to the NAIA Final Four in 2005, while the men’s team reached the Final Four in 2005 and 2006.

Shelli attended Hastings College where she was a four-year letter winner for the Broncos from 2000-04. She was an AVCA All-American in 2003, earned several GPAC Player-of-the-Week honors and was an All-Conference performer from 2001-03.

HASTINGS - Hastings College Athletic Director Ian Roberts has announced Lori Willadsen, from Eaton, Colo., as the new Hastings College Volleyball Head Coach.

Coach Willadsen comes to HC with 17 years of high school and club coaching experience. She has been Head Volleyball Coach at Eaton High School in Eaton, Colo., since 2005. During her career, her teams have claimed three state championships, two runner-up finishes, one Final Four appearance, and 10 state appearances, with 17 All-State players.

She was named Colorado All-State Coach (1998, 1999), Rocky Mountain News Coach of the Year (1998, 2001), All Colorado Coach (2001) and Conference Coach of the Year (1996, 1998, 2000, 2007). She founded the Kills for the Cure fundraising event, which raised over $16,000 in the last three seasons, to benefit the American Cancer Society.

HASTINGS - After one season as the head coach of the Hastings College volleyball program, Ron Alexander decided to resign on Thursday to accept an athletic director position with Front Range Christian School in Littleton, Colo.

Alexander told the Hastings Tribune the decision to leave Hastings College was hard, but that he wanted to put his family first.

"I've been coaching volleyball since 1988 and at some point my family has to be the No. 1 priority and volleyball has to be second and third priorities," Alexander told the Tribune. "That hasn't been the case. It was a difficult decision to leave. But at the end of the day, I'm missing my kids' sports and that's not fair to my family. The community of Hastings has been tremendous and if I was going to continue to coach volleyball, there's no place that I'd rather be. I'm really going to miss it a lot."

HASTINGS - Hastings College head coach Ron Alexander recently released the Class of 2010 recruits for the Lady Broncos volleyball program.

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