Tuesday, Sept. 23 | Waverly, IA | Levick Arena
Wartburg vs. Luther | 6 p.m.
WATCH | LIVE STATS
 
Friday, Sept. 26 | Wartburg Invitational | Waverly, IA | Levick Arena
Wartburg vs. Carthage | 7:30 p.m.
WATCH | LIVE STATS
 
Saturday, Sept. 27 | Wartburg Invitational | Waverly, IA | Levick Arena
Wartburg vs. Augsburg | 9:30 a.m.
WATCH | LIVE STATS
 
The Wartburg College volleyball team (7-5 overall) returns home for the first time this season, hosting Luther College at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, inside Levick Arena. The Knights then turn their attention to the Wartburg Invitational, welcoming Carthage College at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, before taking on Augsburg College at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27. All tournament action will be played in Levick Arena, located in the Wartburg-Waverly Sports & Wellness Center.

WARTBURG INVITATIONAL INFORMATION
Hosted Wartburg College
*Participating Teams: Wartburg, Cornell, Carthage, Augsburg
 
A full schedule can be found here. 

ABOUT THE KNIGHTS
Wartburg begins the week with a 7-5 record after earning one victory at the St. Olaf/Carleton Invite in Northfield, Minn. Sophomore middle hitter Anna Sash leads the Knights with 117 kills, followed closely by Kaylee Koudelka with 103 and Whitney Klyn with 101. Defensively, Peyton Robinson has recorded a team-best 212 digs, while setter Sophie Sedgwick has tallied 244 assists.

Sash also sits second the American Rivers Conference with 50 total blocks. Aspen Falk paces the team in service aces (23), followed by Sedgwick (18).

AKINS EARNS INAUGURAL VICTORY
Head Coach DeAnn Akins earned her first career victory at Wartburg with a 3-1 win over Transylvania University. After dropping the opening set, the Knights rallied with three straight set wins (25-16, 25-22, 26-24), overcoming a 24-20 deficit in the final frame to secure the match.

The Knights followed with a sweep of Olivet (25-16, 25-13, 25-16) before falling to an unbeaten Berry College (Ga.) squad in straight sets.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. OPPONENTS
Luther College

 Wartburg and Luther have faced off 78 times in their storied history, dating back to 1971. Wartburg holds the all-time series 48-30, including 9 of the last 10. Wartburg defeated Luther 3-1 in their last matchup in October last year.
 
LAST 10 MATCHUPS VS LUTHER
10/5/16 – L, 1-3
10/4/17 – W, 3-0
9/12/18 – W, 3-0
11/1/18 – W, 3-2
9/18/19 – W, 3-0
3/22/20 – W, 3-0
9/29/21 – W, 3-0
10/26/22 – W, 3-0
10/11/23 – W, 3-1
10/15/24 – W, 3-1
 
Luther enters this ARC matchup at 4-10 overall, after going 1-1 over the weekend against Bethany Lutheran (L, 0-3), and Martin Luther (W, 3-0).
 
Carthage College
Carthage leads the all-time series, 13-2, dating back to 1979. The Firebirds edged the Knights in their most recent matchup, a 3-0 sweep in 2023. Wartburg and Carthage have met just three times in the last 10 seasons, with the Firebirds taking all three. The Knights are looking for their first victory since the 1988 season.

Carthage is 9-1 to start the 2025 season after a victory against Augustana College (3-0) in CCIW play. The Firebirds will play on more match before Wartburg against North Central College, and have won their last 6 matches.
 
Augsburg University
 Wartburg owns an 11-7 series advantage against Augsburg. The programs met last year in September, when the Knights claimed a five-set victory. The Knights has won 4 of the last 5 matchups against the Auggies.

9/15/12 – W, 3-1
9/7/13 – L, 0-3
10/4/14 – L, 2-3
9/16/16 – L, 0-3
9/15/17 – W, 3-2
9/08/18 – L, 0-3
9/10/21 – W, 3-0
9/24/21 – W, 3-0
9/08/23 – W, 3-1
09/06/24 – W, 3-2

Augsburg begins the week at 5-5 overall, after a split with Knox (3-0) and Wisconsin Superior (1-3) in the Wisconsin-Superior Subway Stinger Classic. The Auggies will play two matches against the College of St. Scholastica and Carthage College before meeting Wartburg.
 
KNIGHTS WELCOME 12 NEWCOMERS
Twelve of the 29 players on the 2025 roster are newcomers.

Gracie Hoskins (Urbana, Iowa/Center Point Urbana), Haedyn Rebelsky (Van Meter, Iowa/Van Meter), Ashlynn Hodges (Shenandoah, Iowa/Shenandoah), Brooklyn Biddle (Lowden, Iowa/Calamus-Wheatland), Addison Huffman (Manchester, Iowa/West Delaware), Zoey Breeding (Winterset, Iowa/Winterset), Neah Bunkers (Polk City, Iowa/North Polk), Ema Roberts (Ladora, Iowa/HLV), Abigale Merritt (Galena, Ill./Galena), Brooke Burgemeister (Belle Plaine, Minn./Belle Plaine), Dakota Poen (Norwalk, Iowa/Norwalk), and Callie Welsch (Winterset, Iowa/Winterset).
 
AKINS MAKES COACHING DEBUT
This season marks the debut season for Head Coach DeAnn Akins, with longtime head coach Jennifer Walker transitioning into her 28th year as an assistant coach.

Akins joins the Wartburg coaching staff from Coe College where she has led that program since 2006. Over her tenure at Coe, Akins won five A-R-C regular season championships and three A-R-C tournament titles. Akins earned four trips to the NCAA Tournament, with 388 career victories over her 19 seasons at the helm. Sixty All-ARC performers, 12 All-Americans, and three offensive conference MVPs were produced under Akins. On top of her athletes' success on the court, Akins has taken home A-R-C Coach of the Year honors five times.

Prior to Coe, Akins spent the 2005 season as the director of volleyball operations at the University of Iowa, which followed some time as head coach of Kirkwood Community College.
Akins is a native of Waverly, Iowa, as she worked as an assistant coach at Wartburg during the 2002 season.

In her inaugural season leading the Wartburg Volleyball program, Akins stated that "This is home, it just feels right. I've had a lot of great memories here at Wartburg as a child.", said at the 2025 Fall Sports Media Day on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
 
 
TABBED THIRD IN A-R-C PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
Wartburg was picked third in the A-R-C preseason poll, earning one first-place vote.
 
A-R-C Preseason Coaches' Poll (Aug. 21)

Place	Team (First-place votes)	Points
1.	Coe (6)	62
2.	Univ. of Dubuque (2)	53
T-3.	Nebraska Wesleyan	45
T-3.	Wartburg (1)	45
5.	Central	41
6.	Loras	28
7.	Simpson	26
8.	Buena Vista	15
9.	Luther	9