Volleyball splits on first day of IIAC-NACC Crossover

LISLE, Ill. — The Simpson volleyball team split its first two games at the annual IIAC-NACC Crossover Challenge on Friday, falling to Wisconsin Lutheran in four sets (29-27, 20-25, 25-20, 25-20) before beating Concordia Chicago in three straight sets (25-23, 25-18, 25-17) to close the day.

The Storm are now 6-7 on the season and will conclude the tournament Saturday with two more Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference foes in host Benedictine and Aurora. The Benedictine match is set to get underway at 10 a.m. and the Aurora match will start at 2 p.m.

WIS. LUTHERAN 3, SIMPSON 1
The Storm led 26-25 in the first set before Wis. Lutheran came back to win, taking a 1-0 lead in the match. The Warriors used that momentum to take the match, but not before Simpson took the second set 25-20. Jacqueline Luth had a team-high 17 kills, Hannah Lester added 11 and Ty Duve had nine. Duve hit .571 for the match but the rest of the team managed just a .069 attack percentage against the Wis.-Lutheran defense. Alyssa Mathews had 27 assists and Kayla Aronow had 19 digs. Duve, Alexis Hammer and Niki Dean had five blocks assists apiece.

SIMPSON 3, CONCORDIA CHICAGO 0
After a close first set, Lester and the Storm cruised in the final two to beat Concordia Chicago for the second time this season. Lester had nine of her match-high 15 kills in the final two sets to help the Storm move to within one game of .500 for the season. Luth had 11 kills, Mathews had 19 assists and Aronow had 19 digs. Duve and Hammer had four blocks assists apiece.