Simpson sweeps Cornell

INDIANOLA, Iowa – Facing an unranked foe for the first time all season, Simpson opened the conference season in style, accumulating the highest hitting percentage in nearly five years in blanking Cornell (25-21, 25-11, 25-17) Wednesday night at Cowles Fieldhouse.

Simpson hit .471 as a team, the sixth-highest hitting percentage in a three-set match in program history and the most for a Simpson team since the Storm hit .533 against Augustana on Sept. 24, 2004.

"We wanted to set the tempo in the conference because we knew we would have a target on our backs," head coach Lana Smith said, whose team was picked to win the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. "Our offense was outstanding, and it all started with tempo passing in the back row. We wanted to put together a complete game tonight and we did."

Senior Lara Gillespie (Lake Park, Iowa) led the way for Simpson (2-3, 1-0 IIAC) with an outstanding .818 hitting percentage, totaling nine kills on 11 attacks. Megan Dunlavy (So., Bettendorf, Iowa) also added nine kills with a .667 hitting percentage. Amy Schuster (Jr., Indianola, Iowa) and Whitney Oviatt (Sr., Carnation, Wash.) each had 10 kills, leading the Storm in that department.

Tara Christensen (Sr., Hinton, Iowa) handed out a game-high 35 assists and Simpson's all-time digs leader, Brittany Friesth (Sr., Adel, Iowa) tallied 15 digs.

Laura Dudgeon led the way with nine kills and a .421 hitting percentage for the Rams (5-1, 0-1 IIAC), who suffered their first loss of the 2009 season after winning every set in their undefeated start. Hannah Boehmer distributed 25 assists and Caiti Hladky charted 13 digs.

Simpson hosts the annual Simpson JV Invitational this weekend, beginning Saturday. The varsity has the weekend off before traveling to Loras Sept 15. The match is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.