Storm fall short of perfect record in Hawaii

KAILUA, Hawaii -- On the final day of the Hawaii trip, Simpson volleyball split both of its matches to finish 3-1. The Storm won 3-1 over Wells in the opener and ended the night with a 3-2 loss to Pacific.

The Storm move to 4-3 on the year and have tallied the team's most wins through its first seven matches since the 2016 season.

Hannah Lester is first in the American Rivers Conference with 97 kills and second with a .337 hitting percentage.

Simpson 3, Wells 1
Set Scores: 25-12, 21-25, 25-14, 25-12

Simpson sprinted out to a quick 5-2 advantage and increased it to 12-4 early in the opening set. Lester tallied two straight kills and Taylor Sudmann added one to stretch it to 16-6, before Wells (1-7) committed three errors and a kill from Kamryn Juni widened the gap to 20-9 before Simpson won 25-12.

The Express took set two, 25-12, to even the contest. The Storm rebounded and cruised to an easy 25-14 win in set three. In the fourth set, the Storm hit .421 to seal the win at 25-12.

Lester was a dominant force in the victory over Wells with 17 kills and six blocks. Alyssa Mathews set up the opportunities for the Storm attackers with 28 assists over the four sets.

Pacific 3, Simpson 2
Set Scores: 25-27, 14-25, 25-23, 25-17, 15-7

Pacific (5-3) went out early in the opening set 6-1 and lengthened it to 10-5 moments later. The Storm were able to chip away at the deficit through the next few points, but could not figure out their opponent's attack. Sitting at set-point at 24-19, the Boxers committed three errors and Blair Glendenning had two aces to tie things up at 24-24. Both teams collected kills to make it 25-25 when Mathews served an ace and Lester sunk an attack to close the comeback and set one victory.

Things remained close through the first eight points of set two, before Simpson went for eight straight to make it 12-4. The Storm moved it to 20-9 and held on to win 25-14 and go up 2-0.

Sitting with a lead at 21-18 in the third set, Simpson could not hold on and lost 25-23 after giving up a 7-2 run to the Boxers. Pacific kept the momentum going into set four to win 25-17.

In the fifth and final set, the Boxers used an early 7-2 run to get some breathing room. The Storm got within three at 7-4, but would not get any closer and would fall 15-7 to split against Pacific over the weekend.

Simpson had a .135 hitting percentage, while the Boxers connected on .176 of their attempts.

Up Next
The Storm are back in action this Thursday for a nonconference contest at Grinnell. The game is slated to begin at 7 p.m.