Storm drop five-set battle to Loras in A-R-C Tournament

DUBUQUE, Iowa -- Jessica Jacobs had a career-high 30 kills, Iman Ghalibaf tallied a career-best 35 digs, and the Storm defense had their highest dig total in over 125 games, but Loras avenged its five-set regular season loss with a 3-2 victory over the Simpson College volleyball team in the first round of the American Rivers Conference Championship.

Simpson (8-15, 4-4 A-R-C) captured a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-23 victory in set three, but the Duhawks (21-10, 5-3 A-R-C) took advantage of an early lead in set four to even the score and send the game into a fifth frame. In the deciding set, Loras broke a 6-all tie with a 6-0 run and the Storm were never able to recover.

The Storm finished the contest with 13 more kills than the Duhawks while amassing 111 digs, the most since tallying 141 against Rose-Hulman on Oct. 3, 2015. Loras held a 9.0-5.0 advantage in total blocks and the two teams combined for 23 aces.

Jacobs ended the game with 30 of the Storm's 59 kills to finish the season with 341 total kills and a 4.15 per set average, a league-best. She hit double figure kills on 15 occasions including four games with more than 20 kills.

The Storm's libero, Ghalibaf, finished her sophomore season on a high note with her second 30+ dig performance of the year. She finished the season with 342 digs and ranked second on the team with 72 assists.

Marissa Salber notched her 10th double-double of the year with 43 assists and 11 digs to bring her season totals to 639 and 210, respectively. Rachel Hardwick accounted for five of the Storm's 11 aces, and Courtney Paxton and Elizabeth Conroy each had a solo block and a block assist.