Volleyball pushes win streak to four

INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Simpson College volleyball team pushed its win streak to four with a 3-1 American Rivers Conference victory over Buena Vista.

Jessica Jacobs (21) and Lexie Parks (13) combined for 34 of the team's 55 kills in the match, which was the Storm's first victory over the Beavers since 2017. Courtney Paxton added a season-high nine kills and Peyton Mitchell chipped in six from the middle.

As a team, Simpson (8-7, 2-1 A-R-C) hit .254 including a blistering .407 in the opening set with 14 kills and just three errors in 27 attempts. Defensively, the Storm forced 17 errors and held the Beavers (6-9, 1-2 A-R-C) under .200 in all but one set. Libero Iman Ghalibaf registered 23 digs in the effort, averaging just under six per set. Marissa Salber recorded 13 digs to go with 41 assists.

The Storm got off to a rocky start in the first set and quickly found themselves trailing 10-2. Jacobs recorded her first kill out of the timeout, and with the help of kills from four different players, Simpson managed to close the gap at 15-15. Behind strong serving from Ghalibaf and Ragan Shelgren, Simpson claimed a 21-18 advantage and Parks and Mitchell finished off the come-from-behind effort with back-to-back kills.

Buena Vista jumped out to another early lead in set two, claiming the first nine points fueled by five aces. The Storm made a late run but could never recover from the early deficit as the Beavers leveled the match with a 25-16 win. The visitors used the momentum to take a 14-7 lead in the third, but Simpson surged back with a 13-3 run fueled by four kills from Jacobs and three from Parks. Jacobs had three more kills in the final eight points as the Storm won 25-21.

The two teams went point-for-point in the fourth until the home team broke a 10-all tie with four straight points. A block by Jacobs and Mitchell gave Simpson a 19-13 lead before a kill by Salber followed by a pair from Parks put the set away, 25-17.

Up Next
Simpson heads to Decatur, Ill. for the Millikin Invitational this weekend. The Storm will face the hosts on Friday at 4:30 before challenging Fontbonne and Eureka on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.