Storm fall 3-2 against Nebraska Wesleyan

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- The Simpson College volleyball team was back on its home court Wednesday night against Nebraska Wesleyan, but dropped a 3-2 match.

The Storm (1-4, 1-4 A-R-C) tallied 64 kills for their most of the season, which ranks fifth among conference schools this year. The defense played tough as well by producing 106 digs for third most in the league and also had eight blocks.

Simpson started the American Rivers Conference battle by jumping out to a quick 3-1 lead in the opening set. The Prairie Wolves (3-3, 3-3 A-R-C) battled back and both teams sat tied at 9-9, before the visitors went on a 5-2 run.

Simpson rattled off six-straight points later in the set to take an 18-16 lead with the help of four attack errors by Nebraska Wesleyan. A 5-1 run placed the Storm two points away from taking the set before a kill from Kamryn Juni gave Simpson a 25-22 win.

After dropping the second set, the Storm battled to take a 2-1 lead with a 25-21 third set triumph. Simpson had 21 kills for its most of any set during the match with Niya Harris pacing the offense with five.

The fourth set started out in favor of the Storm as Allyson Rose pounded two kills to help garner a 3-0 lead. Nebraska Wesleyan bounced back to gain a nine-point advantage and would knot the game at 2-2 at the end of the fourth frame.

Neither team collected an edge in the fifth set as the frame was tied 14-14 before the Prairie Wolves' Hannah Domandle tallied two kills to clinch the match.

Overall, Simpson had 10 more kills than Nebraska Wesleyan with Harris capturing a season-high 15 kills. Juni tallied 13 and Rose added 10 to help the offense. Ragan Shelgren (18), Marissa Salber (15) and Ariana Martinez (13) all had double-digit assist efforts, and Martinez recorded 22 digs and Shelgren accounted for 13.

Up Next
The Storm host Luther this Saturday for a 1 p.m. match inside Cowles Fieldhouse.