2003 AVCA Central Region Volleyball Awards

| 2003 AVCA Central Region Volleyball Team and Postseason Awards |

Four Cobbers Earn AVCA Central Region Honors.

The quartet of Cobbers that earned AVCA Central Region honors. Back row (L-R) Amy Fitzner, Rebecca Shane and Jacki Barten. Fitzner was named to the Central Region Honorable Mention Team. Shane earned Region Freshman of the Year honors. Barten was named to the All-Region Team.  Front row - Jessica Walden was named to the Central Region Honorable Mention Team.

Four Concordia women's volleyball players earned American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Central Region honors. Jacki Barten (Jr., Melrose, Minn./Melrose HS) was named to the All-Region Team, while  Amy Fitzner (Jr., Valley City, N.Dak./Valley City HS) and Jessica Walden (Jr. Hawley, Minn./Hawley HS) were all named to the All-Region Honorable Mention Team. Rebecca Shane (Fr., Detroit Lakes, Minn./Detroit Lakes HS) was named Central Region Freshman of the Year. It is the first time for all four players to be awarded region honors.

The quartet of players helped Concordia to their best season ever. The Cobbers finished the season with a 26-8 record, and earned a bid to the NCAA tournament - the third time in school history. They won their first round match against Elmhurst (IL) before losing to region champion UW-La Crosse in the semifinal of the region. The win against Elmhurst marked the first time in program history that Concordia had won a NCAA playoff match. The team earned the NCAA berth by winning the championship of the MIAC postseason tournament. It was the first time that the Cobbers had ever won the MIAC playoff championship.

Barten finished the regular season with a team-high 452 kills, a .327 hitting percentage and 158 blocks. It is the third straight year that she has led the Cobbers in both categories. Her block total tied the school record for total blocks in a single season. She earned All-MIAC honors for the third straight season. She was named the MVP of the Saint Benedict Tournament and also helped push Concordia to the brink of beating MIAC regular season champion St. Thomas. Barten now has 1,040 career kills which places her fifth on the school's all-time list. She also has amassed 381 blocks in her three years, which is second on the school's all-time chart.

Fitzner was named to the MIAC All-Conference team for the second straight season. She led the Cobbers in kills during the MIAC season by averaging 4.03 per game. She was fifth in the league in that category. For the entire season, she finished third on the team in kills (332) and third in digs (3134). Fitzner was named the MIAC Hitter of the Week once during the season. Fitzner won the award on October 21 following a week in which she helped lead Concordia to three key MIAC wins. In the trio of victories over St. Catherine's (3-0), Gustavus (3-1) and Carleton (3-1), she average 5.3 kills per game and 4.1 digs per game. She led Concordia in kills all three matches. That string of matches came during a longer streak where Fitzner single-handedly carried the weight of the Cobber frontline. In an eight match span, she led the team in kills seven times and helped the Cobbers clinch a spot in the playoffs.

Walden caps her most storied season of her career. Like Fitzner, she was named to the MIAC All-Conference team for the second consecutive year. She broke the school record for assists in a career, and has now totaled 3,251 assists in her first three years. She finished the 2003 season with 1,142 assists - her second highest total of her career. She helped the Cobbers earn their first NCAA tournament bid in seven years and finish second in the MIAC regular season. She was the leader of the Cobber offense that finished second in the league in hitting percentage (.238), kills (15.27/game) and assists (13.34/game).

Shane adds Region Freshman of the Year honors to her MIAC Rookie of the Year award.  She  made a huge impact on the Concordia offense by giving the team a dangerous third option. She finished second on the team in kills (360), hitting percentage (.275) and blocks (124). She was also named the MIAC Hitter of the Week, giving the team four different players to earn MIAC Player of the Week honors in a single season. She won the award after helping Concordia secure second place in the MIAC by beating St. Ben's in the last regular season game of the year. She hit a match-high .432, recorded a team-high 17 kills,  made only one error at the net and collected 6 blocks.

 

AVCA Central Region Team
Player          School                  Pos Yr.
Amie Aschenbeck  University of St. Thomas  MB Jr.
Jackelyn Barten  Concordia College         MB Jr.
Carley Bomstad   Macalester College        MB Sr.
Catie Brand      Central College (Iowa)    RS Sr.
Amy Brand        Washington Univ.          MB Sr.
Dia Dohlman      Wartburg College          OH Sr.
Jane Gibbs       University of St. Thomas   S Sr.
Amy Kueker       Wartburg College      RS/Opp Sr.
Kara Liefer      Washington Univ.           S So.
Katie Quinn      Washington Univ.          MB Sr.
Shannon Stewart  Simpson College           MB Jr.
Colleen Winter   Washington Univ.          OH Jr.

AVCA Central Region Honorable Mention Team
Kristin Anderson (Loras College, S/H, Sr.)
Lizzy Erickson (Carleton College, MB, Sr.)
Amy Fitzner (Concordia College, OH, Jr.)
Cindy McPeak (Washington University, RS/Opp, Sr.)
Jamie Stark (Central College, MB,Jr.)
Jessica Walden (Concordia College, S, Jr.)

Region Freshman of the Year:Rebecca Shane, Concordia College, MB
 
 

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