After 17 years of coaching at Knox and 25 years in the Midwest Conference, Knox head volleyball and softball coach Kathy Wagoner (right) announced on January 22 that she will retire from coaching following the 2007 Prairie Fire softball season this spring.  Wagoner has more than 250 career wins in both volleyball and softball to her credit. 

Starting her collegiate head coaching career at Monmouth College in 1981-82, where she helped guide Monmouth to a total of three conference championships. She joined the Knox athletic department in 1987 as the head coach for both programs.  She gave up coaching after the 1994-95 academic year before returning to the softball dugout as head coach in the spring of 1998.  She also resumed her volleyball head coaching duties in the fall of 1998. 

Click here for complete release

After winning the conference championship and sweeping through the league tournament in 2006, Beloit’s title-winning cast was rewarded with a league-high four representatives on the 2006 Midwest Conference Volleyball All-Conference first team. That group included senior setter Katie Algrem (right), the 2006 MWC Volleyball Player of the Year.

Click here for complete release

Beloit’s first-ever NCAA Volleyball Tournament appearance ended in the first round at Eau Claire, Wis., on Thursday (Nov. 9) as the Bus fell to third-ranked Concordia (MN) in four games.

The Cobbers took game one 30-17 and held off the Bucs 30-28 in the second game. Beloit managed to win the third game 30-27, but the Cobbers advanced with a 30-25 triumph in the fourth and deciding game. Megan Maure and Alli Thomson led Beloit with 13 kills apiece, while Christine Brown added a dozen kills.

The Bucs will travel to the UW-Eau Claire Regional in Eau Claire, Wis., for a first round matchup against Concordia-Moorehead (MN) at 6 p.m. on Thursday, November 9.

The Cobbers, who enter ranked fourth in the country in the AVCA Top 25 Poll, received an automatic berth to the NCAA tourney after winning the MIAC regular-season and tournament titles. Concordia owns an overall record of 24-1 this season

The winner of the match will face the winner of UW-Eau Claire and Carthage. The lower side of the bracket features St. Thomas against UW-Oshkosh, with the winner of that match taking on top seed UW-Whitewater, who received a bye. The Regional Championship Match is set for Saturday, November 11 at 7 p.m.

While many of the teams descending on Beloit, Wis., for the 2006 Midwest Conference Volleyball Tournament on Friday and Saturday, November 3-4 can be considered “regulars” in the MWC title mix, this year’s tourney contains some drastic changes at the top. Beloit, whose lone conference loss this season came to Lake Forest in five games, won its second MWC Championship in school history en route to earning the top seed and hosting duties for the event.

Click here for complete release

First-year head coach Jami Strinz led the Beloit volleyball team to an 8-1 mark in Midwest Conference play this season and the 2006 MWC Championship after Saturday’s (Oct. 21) four-game road victory at Lawrence. The title marks the second in school history, with the Bucs previous league crown coming in 1995.

Beloit enters as the top seed/host of the six-team MWC Tournament on November 3 and 4. The Bucs advanced to the semifinals of last year’s conference tourney before falling to eventual league champ St. Norbert in five games. The winner of the 2006 MWC Tournament receives the conference’s automatic bid to the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

After recording her 1,000th career kill earlier this season, Lawrence senior middle hitter Alicia Onisawa has moved into third place on the Vikings all-time kill list. Onisawa, a second team All-MWC pick a year ago, entered the final two weeks of the regular-season with 1,101 career kills.

Lake Forest ’s Janelle Balcerzak set a school record with her 210th career service ace against St. Norbert on Saturday. The senior middle blocker also recorded her 1,000th career kill earlier this season (Sept. 2).

Beloit College will be the destination for the Midwest Conference Volleyball Crossover II, which plays out on Saturday, October 14. The second Crossover is a one-day affair, with each league school matching up against the two out-of-division opponents they have yet to face this season.

Six teams will qualify for the 2006 MWC Tournament, hosted by the conference’s top seed on November 3 and 4, and a handful of squads will have the opportunity to clinch tourney berths this Saturday. North schools Beloit (15-8), St. Norbert (17-6) and Carroll (10-11) all enter with identical 4-1 records in conference play this season. The Bucs ended the Green Knights 10-match MWC unbeaten streak with a three-game victory at home on October 5. Carroll’s lone loss came at the hands St. Norbert, while Beloit’s blemish came at the hands of Lake Forest at the first Crossover.

Lake Forest (11-11) and Illinois College (11-12) are both 3-1 in MWC action this season and will be looking to establish a grip on the MWC South Division. Defending MWC South champion Monmouth (14-9, 3-2 MWC) has won three straight conference matches since an 0-2 start at the first Crossover.

Ripon (10-13, 2-3) and Lawrence (6-20, 1-3) will both need strong performances against their South school counterparts if the North Division hopes to send more than three teams to the MWC tourney.

Grinnell (3-19, 0-5) and Knox (1-21, 0-5) both enter in search of their first league wins of the season and could play spoiler.

Illinois College senior setter Megan Trimpe (right) reached a Lady Blues milestone when she became the first player in school history to tally 4,000 assists in a career. Her first assist of the 2006 season was also the 3,589th of her career, making her Illinois College’s all-time leader in helpers.

St. Norbert (12-4, 1-0 MWC) and Monmouth (9-4), the teams who met in last year’s MWC Tournament title match, enter the Crossover atop the North and South Division standings, respectively. The Green Knights downed Carroll in three games on Tuesday in the first conference match of the season, while Monmouth had its five-match winning streak snapped by Wheaton on Saturday. Beloit, who also enters with a 9-4 record, will have its second five-match winning streak of the season if the Bucs can win their Crossover opener against Lake Forest.

Carroll (5-7, 0-1) opened the season 5-0 after winning three games a year ago, but has dropped its last seven since. Illinois College (5-9), who meets Grinnell on Friday in the only other conference match to precede the Crossover, opened the year 4-0, but has also lost seven straight.

Ripon (7-7) has won three of its last five to reach .500 on the year, while Lawrence and Lake Forest both enter with 5-9 records and hope to be on the brink of .500 by the end of the weekend. The Vikings have won two of their last three, while the Foresters have dropped three straight, including a pair of matches to Top 25 teams.

Grinnell (2-11) has lost four straight since notching its second win of the season, while Knox (0-13) will be looking to tally its first win of the year.

Click here for Crossover I Schedule

Four Midwest Conference teams received first-place votes in the 2006 MWC Preseason Volleyball Coaches Poll, but St. Norbert, the two-time defending league champ, emerged as the favorite. The Green Knights received five first-place votes, while Lake Forest (3), Monmouth (1) and Beloit (1) were also recipients of first-place votes. Lori Sadewater's St. Norbert squad will be led by senior outside hitter Crystal McClure (right), the 2005 MWC Player of the Year.

Click here for complete release

Matt Schoultz (right) has been hired as the new volleyball coach at Lawrence, Director of Athletics Robert Beeman announced today (April 25).

Schoultz comes to Lawrence from Appleton's Xavier High School, where he has been the head volleyball coach for 11 seasons. He compiled a 294-141-64 record and won three Valley 8 Conference championships with the Hawks. Under Schoultz's guidance, Xavier won four WIAA regional championships and qualified for the 2001 and 2005 state tournaments.

Schoultz, a 1986 Xavier graduate, earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Schoultz replaces Lori Papineau, who stepped down in February after one season to become the head volleyball coach at Adrian College. Papineau was 10-15 in her only season at Lawrence, and the Vikings finished in fourth place in the Midwest Conference's North Division with a 3-6 record.

Click here for complete release

Lawrence Athletic Director Bob Beeman said a national search for Papineau's replacement will begin immediately (Feb. 24).

Click here for complete release

This past fall, Strinz, 27, served as Beloit ’s assistant volleyball coach under Ken Yasukawa. The Buccaneers finished the season with a 17-17 overall record that included an appearance in the 2005 Midwest Conference Tournament. The Bucs finished the regular season with a 6-3 MWC record and earned the North Division’s No. 2 seed. The 17 victories are the seventh-highest total recorded by Beloit and come on the heels of the 2004 campaign that finished 26-12.

Click here for complete release