Simpson splits at Mabel Lee Tournament

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Simpson volleyball team split its four games at the Mabel Lee Tournament last weekend, defeating Dubuque and North Central while falling to Coe and Wisconsin-River Falls.

On day one of the tournament, Simpson defeated Dubuque 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-19) and North Central 3-1 (25-23, 17-25, 25-18, 27-25). On Saturday, Simpson dropped a five-set match to Coe (25-23, 20-25, 23-25, 25-23, 10-15) and a three-set match to River Falls (17-25, 19-25, 17-25).

"It was a really good first day," head coach Lana Smith said. "We have such a great defensive crew, which has been our bread and butter this year. This weekend, we wanted to stress the offense and get more people hitting above .200. We did that on Friday and were still able to play a lot of people."

The Storm (9-14, 2-3 IIAC) had four players above the .200 mark in hitting percentage on the weekend, led by junior Megan Dunlavy (Bettendorf, Iowa). Dunlavy hit .343 and led the team with 42 kills. She had 10-plus kills in each match, and powered the Storm in the 3-1 win over North Central. In that match, she had a team-high 14 kills with only three errors in 29 attempts for a .379 hitting percentage.

Amy Schuster (Indianola, Iowa) had 38 kills and hit .172 and McKaylie Croghan (Manning, Iowa) had 25 kills throughout the tournament.

Running the offense, Ashley Padget (Ankeny, Iowa) and Lexie Hagerty (Tama, Iowa) split time, with Padget handing out 75 assists and Hagerty distributing 56. Defensively, Monica Driscoll (Williamsburg, Iowa) had 49 digs and Morgan Terprstra (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) had six block assists and two block solos.

Simpson returns to conference play this week when it heads to Dubuque on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. matchup against the Spartans. Simpson then hosts the Simpson invitational Oct. 15-16, welcoming Gustavus Adolphus, Illinois Wesleyan, St. Olaf, Wartburg and Wisconsin-Whitewater to Cowles Fieldhouse.