Storm rally for five-set win at Central

PELLA, Iowa - Megan Dunlavy (Bettendorf, Iowa) had a team-high 14 kills, Taylor Helton (Ankeny, Iowa) and Ashley Padget (Bloomfield, Iowa) provided a spark off the bench and Simpson erased an 0-2 deficit on the way to a five-set win at Central on Tuesday night.

Simpson dropped the first two sets, 25-14, 25-21, before rattling off the next three, 25-20, 25-18, 16-14. The win marks the fourth in a row for the Storm (7-12, 2-3 IIAC) over their biggest rival, spoiling Central's homecoming.

"To win at their place is always huge," head coach Lana Smith said. "Because we have a relatively inexperienced team, they weren't affected by the crowd or homecoming. This was a big win for our girls."

Trailing two sets, Smith shook up the lineup. Helton came in on the outside and Padget entered as the setter.

"We're never sure with this team," Smith said. "We've got a lot of different players who can do different things for us, and when we made the lineup change there was a total momentum shift. They gave us the momentum and then we hung on."

Helton had nine kills and only one error in 30 attempts while Padget led the team with 33 assists. Amy Schuster (Indianola, Iowa) had 11 kills and Morgan Terpstra (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) had nine with a team-best .438 hitting percentage. Monica Driscoll (Williamsburg, Iowa) paced the defense with 23 digs. 

The Dutch (14-6, 3-1 IIAC) dominated the first two sets, hitting .344 and .324 as a team in sets one and two. But in the next two sets, Central hit only .054 and -.020.

Trailing 9-6 in the final set, Simpson went on an 8-2 run to go up 14-11. Central tied the deciding set 14-14 before Simpson sealed the win with the final two points.

The Storm travel to the Mabel Lee Tournament in Cedar Rapids this weekend, where they will face Dubuque and North Central on Friday. The tournament concludes on Saturday with Coe and UW-River Falls.