Volleyball goes 2-0 on first day of IIAC/NAAC Crossover

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Simpson volleyball team got off to a 2-0 start at the IIAC/NAAC Crossover with wins over Wisconsin-Lutheran and Marian (Wis.) on Friday afternoon.

MacKenzie McGraw and Tabitha Blaser each had 20 kills to lead the Storm (8-6) and Elisa Wildy chipped in with 17 and a team-high .286 attack percentage. Katie Kieffer finished with 65 assists, Kira Klepel had eight service aces and Kayla Aronow scooped 23 digs.

Simpson 3, Wis.-Lutheran 0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-19)

Wildy had a monster performance against the Warriors, finishing with 12 kills and hitting .385 to go along with a team-high nine digs and one block. McGraw added nine kills, Blaser had eight andKieffer spread out 24 assists.

Simpson never trailed during the first two sets but got down early in the third. Trailing 8-4, Simpson got a pair of kills by Wildy and an attack error on Wisconsin Lutheran to draw within a point. Down 9-8, Wildy tied it up then gave the Storm the lead for good with back-to-back kills.

Simpson 3, Marian 1 (25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 25-15)

Blaser, McGraw and Torey Buenger each reached double digit kills as Simpson hit .241 to Marian's .161 for the match. Blaser paced the effort with 12 kills while Buenger and McGraw had 11 each. Buenger hit .391 and helped out on four blocks. She commited just two errors in 23 total attempts.

Kieffer tallied her 10th, 40-assist match of the season with 41 and four block assists. Klepel finished with four aces and 10 digs and Aronow had a team-high 15 digs.

Coming Up

Simpson concludes play at the IIAC/NAAC Challenge on Saturday when it faces Concordia (Wis.) at Noon and Aurora at 4 p.m.