Volleyball suffers first conference loss of 2009
DECORAH, Iowa – Three Simpson volleyball players tallied 15 kills or more and the Storm out-hit Luther, but the Norse handed Simpson its first Iowa Conference loss of 2009, 3-2 (25-19, 18-25, 25-22, 18-25, 23-21) Tuesday night in Decorah.
Simpson (8-8, 3-1 IIAC) got 16 kills and a team-leading .213 hitting percentage from Megan Dunlavy, followed closely by Whitney Oviatt and Lara Gillespie, who had 15 kills a-piece.
Luther (13-4, 2-1 IIAC) followed the lead of Emily Cory's team-leading 15 kills. Taylor Skoglund accumulated a game-high .286 hitting percentage and Tiffany Kruse came away with 13 kills for the Norse.
The Storm tallied 64 kills to Luther's 51, but committed 11 service errors to Luther's seven on the night.
Gillespie had a game-high 34 digs and Tara Christensen distributed 53 assists for the Storm. Libero Brittany Friesth added 24 digs.
Simpson returns to action this weekend at the annual IIAC-MIAC Border Battle, held in Dubuque and hosted by Loras. Simpson will face No. 17 Concordia Moorhead, No. 6 St. Thomas, No. 19 St. Benedict and Gustavus Adolphus.