Storm earn first conference win under Cox

INDIANOLA, Iowa – Simpson gave its head coach his first league win, beating Dubuque, 5-4 on Saturday morning. Simpson lost the second match of the day to Loras, also by a 5-4 final.

The Storm (4-11, 1-1 Iowa Conference) hit the road next weekend, with matches at Luther and at Wartburg on Saturday, April 13.

Match 1: Simpson 5, Dubuque 4
Simpson used a strong showing in singles play to beat Dubuque 5-4 in its conference opener on Saturday morning.

The Storm won the top three singles matches and won four of six overall to notch their first conference win under second-year head coach T.J. Cox.

Alex Hook (No. 1), Zach Kusick (No. 2), Peter Reitgraf (No. 3) and Blake Billings (No. 6) all picked up singles wins and the team of Kusick and Reitgraf notched the crucial doubles win for Simpson.

Hook beat Demetrius Johnson 6-2, 6-4, Kusick topped Nikolay Gospodinov 6-1, 6-0, Reitrgraf knocked off Michael Brade 6-2, 6-2 and Billings edged Trevor Calahan 6-4, 6-3 in singles. Kusick and Reitrgraf handled Dishon Deering and Calahan 8-2 at No. 2 singles.

Match 2: Loras 5, Simpson 4
Simpson came up short in its bid to start the Iowa Conference season 2-0 with a 5-4 loss to Loras on Saturday afternoon.

The Storm split the singles competition but dropped two of three doubles matches in the loss.

Kusick, Reitgraf and Billings all improved to 2-0 on the day with singles wins at No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6, respectively. Kusick beat Brian Falvey 6-4, 6-2, Reitgraf beat Noah Schmall 6-3, 6-1 and Billings topped Garett Prusha, 6-3, 6-4.

The team of Kusick and Reitgraf came away with Simpson's only doubles win, cruising past Schmall and Ulises Hernandez 8-2 at No. 2.