Dubuque tops volleyball in five

INDIANOLA, Iowa - Klaudia Basierak had 25 kills as Dubuque spoiled the home finale for the Simpson volleyball team in five sets (25-19, 21-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-13) on Wednesday night.

Despite the loss, Simpson earned a spot in the six-team Iowa Conference Tournament for the first time in three years. The Storm (14-12, 2-5 Iowa Conference) enter the tournament as the No. 6 seed and will travel to to face third-seeded Loras on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

The win propelled the Spartans (11-20, 2-5) to the No. 5 seed. Dubuque travels to fourth-seeded Luther on Tuesday.

The second-leading attacker in the conference coming into the match, Basierak compiled 80 total attacks and hit .225 to carry Dubuque. Amy Tranel added 17 kills while hitting .517.

Kat Wetjen had the best match of her young career, burying a season-high 20 kills and hitting .273 to lead Simpson. Tabitha Blaser and Torey Buenger added 15 kills apiece and Katie Kieffer had 34 assists.

In a crucial fourth set, Simpson couldn't recover from a big run by Dubuque. Tied 11-11, the Spartans rattled off seven straight to take an 18-11 lead.

Down 19-12, Simpson responded with a run of its own, getting six in a row capped off by a Blaser kill. But setter Meggie Schmidt stopped the run and Dubuque outscored Simpson 6-3 down the stretch to take the 25-21 win.

Blaser had a pair of kills as part of a 4-0 run that gave Simpson a 9-7 lead in the fifth set, but Dubuque scored six of the next eight points en-route to the 15-13 win.

Tuesday's match-time at Loras is yet to be determined.