Wartburg rallies from 0-2, takes match

INDIANOLA, Iowa - A rematch of last year's Iowa Conference Tournament Championship, the Simpson and Wartburg volleyball teams battled in yet another five-set thriller Wednesday night. This time around, the visiting Knights escaped Cowles Fieldhouse with a 3-2 win.

Freshmen Ramey Sieck and Maddie Forsyth led the way for the Knights (4-2, 1-0 IIAC), as the duo combined for 23 of the team's 58 kills. Sieck hit a game-high .357 to go along with 17 assists and eight digs and Forsyth helped out on six block-assists. Kamille Van Natta led the team with 15 kills.

The Storm (3-2, 0-1 IIAC) burst out of the gates, notching 25-20 and 25-23 wins in the first two sets. Blaiqe Allshouse (Lamoni, Iowa) paced Simpson early on, tallying 16 kills in the first three sets. The junior ended with a game and career-high 19 kills.

Wartburg won a tight contest with a 25-22 victory in the third set before forcing a fifth set with a 25-16 win in set four. After trailing 11-7 in the final frame, Simpson rallied to pull within three at 13-10. But the Knights rattled off the next two points in the win.

Wednesday marked the third time in the last five meetings the two teams needed five sets to determine a winner. They met three times last year, splitting 3-2 decisions in the regular season before Simpson swept Wartburg 3-0 in the IIAC Championship.

Amy Schuster (Indianola, Iowa) recorded 16 kills for the Storm from the outside. Lexie Hagerty (Tama, Iowa) ran the offense with a game-high 37 assists to go along with 11 digs. Monica Driscoll (Williamsburg, Iowa) had a game-high 29 digs defensively.

As a team, Simpson committed 11 service errors to Wartburg's one.

Simpson enjoys a weekend off before returning to conference play Wednesday, Sept. 15 when it hosts Loras (4-1, 1-0 IIAC) at Cowles Fieldhouse.