Volleyball buries Central on Senior Night

INDIANOLA, Iowa – With no hope of a postseason trip, Simpson's quartet of volleyball seniors had nothing but pride to play for in the final home match of the season.

The group showed it has plenty of that.

MacKenzie McGraw buried a kill for the final point of the night, Tabitha Blaser enjoyed her best game of the season and Simpson came back to beat rival Central in four sets on Senior Night.

After losing the first set 25-21, Simpson dominated the rest of the way, winning 25-12, 25-20, 25-12 to close out the win.

Blaser had 17 kills and hit .400, helping the Storm (12-17, 1-6 Iowa Conference) snap a six-match losing streak in impressive fashion. After hitting .205 in the first-set loss, Simpson hit .265 the rest of the way, trailing just once in the final three sets.

Torey Buenger hit .421 with nine kills, McGraw and Jacqueline Luth had seven kills apiece and Olivia Sulentic had 23 digs and three aces. Sara Hoppenworth finished with 27 assists and two aces.

Jenna Dille had nine kills and hit .438 to lead the Dutch (14-17, 1-6).

Simpson responded from the loss in set one by sprinting out to a 10-0 lead in set two, paced by three early kills from Blaser.

The only time Simpson lost the lead in the final three sets came early in set three, when an error by McGraw gave Central a 1-0 edge. Blaser responded with a kill, Sulentic added an ace and the lead never changed hands the rest of the way.

Set three was tied 2-2 before Sami Boekhoff's kill sparked a 7-0 run that resulted in a commanding 9-2 lead. The senior-to-senior connection of Hoppenworth to McGraw ended it, as McGraw put an emphatic close on the win with a powerful right-arm swing.

SENIORS SAY GOODBYE
Seniors Blaser, Hoppenworth, McGraw and Sulentic were recognized in a short ceremony before the game.

UP NEXT
Oct. 30-31 at the Trinity (Texas) Invitational