Ollinger nears a decision

NORTH LIBERTY - She is lifting three times a week. She is in the gym daily. She is honoring her commitments with her club teams. She is participating in the Game Time League.

And a weighty decision looms.

'If I keep going at this rate, I'm going to burn out,” Amanda Ollinger acknowledged. 'Physically and mentally.”

A junior-to-be at Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Ollinger said Wednesday she intends to reveal her college plans before the end of the summer.

Iowa? Drake? UNI?

Basketball? Volleyball? Both?

'I'm narrowing down my options,” she said. 'It's hard to decide which sport I like better. I love them both.”

A 6-foot-2 outside hitter/forward, Ollinger said she has scholarship offers from Iowa in both sports, plus Drake in basketball and Northern Iowa in volleyball.

She is an all-stater in both sports.

Last fall, Ollinger helped ignite a major turnaround in the Jefferson volleyball program, averaging 6.1 kills and 2.9 digs per set as the J-Hawks finished 19-22 - a mighty contrast from 4-32 in 2012.

In a spellbinding regional-semifinal upset over Iowa City West, she collected 44 kills.

Ollinger averaged 18.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last winter as Jefferson went 9-13 in basketball. The J-Hawks figure to be one of the best teams in the Mississippi Valley Conference next winter.

This summer, she is playing for the All-Iowa Attack 11th-grade basketball team and the Club Iowa 18-and-under volleyball squad.

Wednesday at the Game Time League, she posted 13 points and 13 rebounds in her game. She showed she belonged.

Ollinger said a volleyball/basketball double hasn't been completed at Iowa, but that basketball coach Lisa Bluder told her she could play four seasons of basketball, then join the volleyball for one season afterward.

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