Marion High School senior Maggie Murphy has accepted an offer from Charleston Southern University to play volleyball.
Charleston Southern is an NCAA Division I university and a member of the Big South Conference. Murphy helped lead Marion to the 3A state title in 2008 and 3A state semifinals in 2009. 
She holds the single season digs record and is second all-time in digs in Marion volleyball history.  She plans to study biology and chemistry.

Dubuque Wahlert volleyball coach Julie Kieffer has resigned.
Kieffer led the Dubuque Hempstead to the 2003 Class 4A state championship, then piloted Wahlert to titles in 2004 and 2005.
Here’s a link to a story by The Dubuque Telegraph-Herald.

CEDAR RAPIDS — Success breeds success, according to Tripoli volleyball coach Will Baumann.
The Panthers know a little bit about success. They’ve been in 10 of the last 11 state volley tournaments, winning seven titles.
Defending champion and top-ranked Tripoli swept Grandview Park Baptist, 25-22, 25-16, 25-9, in a Class 1A state quarterfinal of the state tournament Thursday at the U.S. Cellular Center.
The Panthers are serious about their tradition of reaching state and winning — a lot.
“We want to keep representing what Tripoli’s about, and that’s what we focus on,” Panthers senior …

Emily Ryan talks about pre-game rituals and gets a college coach’s perspective on the tournament, and we see some of Southern Cal head coach Wade Voith’s advice for his team.

Sportswriters Jeff Linder and K.J. Pilcher hosted the second daily chat on the state girls volleyball tournament today at 11:30. Replay the live chat below.
LIVE CHAT: Jeff Linder on State Volleyball, Day 2

From the fans came a standing ovation for the Springville Orioles, as they left the court with heavy hearts, after a hard fought battle that did not go the Orioles way. It was the end of the 2009 volleyball road for the Orioles, as Don Bosco took the match in four games to advance to the State Tourney.
After losing two close games, the Orioles bounced back to win the third in a slightly quicker paced match-up.  Momentum slipped away in game four when Don Bosco ran up an 8 point lead that ultimately was …

SOLON — Let Ali Stark describe her team’s strategy going into its Class 2A regional volleyball final Tuesday night against West Branch.
“In practice, we’ve been preparing for this and going through pretty hard drills,” the Mount Vernon junior said. ”We wanted to keep up our intensity the entire time and not let them in (it). We just wanted to come in, play our game and dominate.”
So did your team do that, Ali?
“Yeah, I thought we did a good job of that,” she smiled.
No argument here. Mount Vernon played like the …

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER vs. SOUTHEAST POLK
Region: Class 4A Region 4
Site & time: Marshalltown, 7 p.m.
Records & rankings: Both teams are unranked. Xavier is 19-18; Southeast Polk is 16-15.
Notable: Southeast Polk pulled a regional-semifinal shocker, ousting No. 8 Cedar Rapids Washington in five games at Washington. Xavier survived its own thrilled, outlasting Des Moines Roosevelt in five games. SEP is searching for its first trip to state. The Saints have made one voyage, in 2004.
Linder’s pick: Southeast Polk in 5.
 
CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY vs. WATERLOO EAST
Region: Class 4A Region 5
Site & time: …

There was an air of excitement on the Oriole side of the gym….the fans sensed a win before the game had even begun.  Maybe it was the sight of all the girls smiling…maybe it was the baked potato team dinner the night before…maybe it was just good old fashioned team spirit. Whatever it was, you could feel it when you walked in.
The night belonged to the Orioles from the beginning, when the National Anthem singer was a no show, and Oriole players/singers Hope Matus & Sydney Vaughn stepped out of the team …

MARION — Set Kiah Stokes. Set Chelsea Burkle.
Scouting the Linn-Mar attack is easy. Stopping it is difficult.
Stokes collected 19 kills, Burkle added 13 and ninth-ranked Linn-Mar swept Cedar Rapids Prairie, 25-18, 25-12, 25-21, in a Class 4A regional semifinal volleyball match last night at Linn-Mar High School.
“We don’t do anything fancy. We keep it simple, and what we do, we do well,” said Lions Coach Rob Justis. “The other team knows where we’re going. We just try to run what we do well.”
The Lions (25-14) aim for their first state-tournament …