Volleyball falls to Celts, Mountaineers

HOUSTON, Texas – The Simpson College volleyball team dropped a pair of nonconference matchups with St. Thomas and Schreiner on the first day of the First Responder's Tournament in Houston, Texas.

Simpson (3-3) started the day with a 3-0 loss to the host school, St. Thomas. The Storm and Celts (4-1) traded points all the way out to a 21-21 tie before St. Thomas used three Simpson errors and an ace to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Storm struggled in set two, only managing one kill in a 25-11 loss. Simpson held an early lead in the final set but a 6-0 run put the home team ahead at the halfway point and they never looked back.

In the second match of the day, the Storm fell behind 1-0 after a back-and-forth opening set resulted in a 27-25 win for the Mountaineers (4-2). Neither team led by more than three in the frame and Simpson held match point at 24-23, but Schreiner scored four of the next five to win the set.

The two teams went point-for-point again in set two but Simpson closed things out on a 9-0 run to even the match at 1-1 with a 25-17 victory. An early deficit cost the Storm in set three as they fell 25-19, and Schreiner pulled away late in set four to seal the win.

Jessica Jacobs led the Storm with 25 kills on the day including 18 against Schreiner. Lexie Parks chipped in 10 kills and Autumn Finch added six. Marissa Salber and Ragan Shelgren split time at the setter position, finishing with 25 and 29 assists, respectively.

Defensively, Iman Ghalibaf recorded 29 digs followed by Jacobs with 21 and Rachel Hardwick with 15. Jacobs tallied three solo denials, while Parks and Finch each had two blocks.

Up Next
Simpson has a rematch with the Mountaineers on Saturday at 10 a.m. and will close out its time in Texas with a 2 p.m. match against No. 25 Mary Hardin-Baylor.