IOWA CITY - Cedar Rapids Jefferson's Amanda Ollinger does not need a hockey mask or chainsaw to be scary.

The powerful 6-foot-1 sophomore piled up 45 kills on Halloween and helped lead the J-Hawks to a 25-23, 16-25, 19-25, 27-25, 15-13 thriller over Iowa City West on Thursday in a Class 5A Regional semifinal at West High.

"Every time she hits, she's able to do anything from anywhere," Jefferson setter Kaylie Zitek said.

And Ollinger was everywhere Thursday, scoring the last two points to secure Game 4 and the last three to deliver Game 5. Her final spike sent her team and Jefferson students into a frenzied celebration on the court.

"I don't feel we're ever out of a game," Ollinger said. "Whether I'm in the front row or back row ... the game isn't over until the ref makes the call."

Zitek said it was a big deal to topple Iowa City West, a team the senior had never beaten. Jefferson had lost to Iowa City West twice this season - including 25-15, 26-24 at the MVC Tournament two weeks ago - coming into the regional showdown.

"This was one of our biggest things to do - beat West," Zitek said. "Being able to do that really blew our minds. We've never been so happy in our lives."

Jefferson (19-21) still has one more match to go before the state tournament. The J-Hawks face No.5 Pleasant Valley (27-6) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Davenport Central.

"When we won the last game (first-round regional against Linn-Mar), that was such a huge accomplishment," Jefferson Coach Mary Kay Van Oort said. "That's how this one feels too.

"Going to state would be amazing, but each win is a whole new hurdle for our program at this point."

The J-Hawks - who were 4-32 last season - keep defying the odds.

Thursday, Jefferson trailed 20-16 in the fourth set. Ollinger had three kills and a block to help tie it up at 23-23.

West High was serving for game and match point, 25-24, when J-Hawk sophomore Makenzie Tomkins came up with a big tip for a point.

Ollinger then smashed a back-row kill through three Women of Troy blockers, and closed it out with a powerful floor-rattler to force Game 5.

"She's good," West coach Kathy Bresnahan said. "I love watching her play ... just not against us.

"She shouldn't have had that many opportunities with perfect passes. If you pull the setter 10 feet off the net, then the sets aren't as perfect."

West High seemed to straighten things out at the start of Game 5 and built a 10-4 lead. But then Ollinger had a back-row kill that was hit so hard, it smacked into West's talented libero Madi Miller and knocked her backwards and off her feet.

The hard kill got the J-Hawk crowd and bench on their feet.

"Just the fact they can't get the ball up," Ollinger said of her hard kills. "We get so excited off of it, and their energy drops."

A few West High mistakes and suddently it was 12-8 for West. Ollinger hit a pair of kills to cut it to 12-10.

Ollinger then tied it up 13-13 with a sonic-boom kill. And even with everyone in the gym knowing where each J-Hawk set was going, Ollinger converted the final two points for the win.

"When you get her a decent set, she does some amazing things with it," Van Oort said. "It also helps that Amanda is such a team player. She's not someone they'd ever think is taking all the credit. They are just happy to have that ability to terminate."

On the chart of team kills, Ollinger dominated with 45. Tomkins was second on the team with eight. Senior Kayla Jashen had three, and seniors Brenna Parke and Cierra Maas each had two.

"Amanda doesn't hit all the time, but she hits a lot," Van Oort said. "She comes through. She does a lot, and not just in the front row. She is in the back row digging, passing and hitting.

"I do worry about her getting tired. But she really dug deep and had energy at the end of the game."

Having a go-to weapon has the J-Hawks thinking about the next step - a trip to state in two weeks. It's a long way from where Van Oort started when she took over the program this year.

"I was hoping to get close to .500," Van Oort said. "I didn't expect that (this) was something that would be a possibility for us.

"Let's have a decent season with more wins than (Jefferson) is used to. That's what I hoped for."

But Van Oort also wanted to have a big year for the seniors. Zitek isn't ready for the season to end.

"We came into this more confident than ever," Zitek said. "We want to go to state this year."

West High (26-10) was led by junior Mikaela Morgan with 18 kills. Senior Mollie Mason had 15 kills, junior Laynie Whitehead 10 and senior Hannah Fairfield six.

"We picked a bad night to have our worst match of the year," Bresnahan said. "You wouldn't know we had a scouting report, because we never executed it."

Ollinger provided a few problems, as well.

"She is amazing," Morgan said. "It's really hard to stop such a good hitter. Two blockers, three blockers ... we couldn't stop her. I guess it was just her night."