Storm come up short against No. 20 Coe

INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Simpson College volleyball team battled tough but came up short against No. 20 Coe, falling 3-1.

The Storm (11-9, 2-2 A-R-C) recorded 11 more kills than the nationally-ranked Kohawks (16-4, 3-0 A-R-C), but committed 31 attacking errors in comparison to Coe's 12. The visitors had seven attack errors in the opening frame but hit .302 the rest of the way with just five miscues.

Despite Simpson jumping out to an 11-5 start and controlling most of the set, Coe made a late comeback to claim a tight first set 25-23. Four service aces in the early goings of set two helped the Storm take another early advantage, 12-7. The Kohawks once again closed the gap late with a 4-1 run that placed the game at 21-21, but Simpson managed to close it out behind kills from Peyton Mitchell and Jessica Jacobs along with a big solo block from Autumn Finch.

In the third and fourth sets, the two teams battled to 14-14 ties before Coe ran away with a pair of big runs. The Kohawks used an 11-2 run to take set three 25-16 and closed out the match with a 25-18 fourth-set win capped off by an 11-4 spurt.

Jacobs led all attackers with 20 kills, extending her streak of games with double-digit kills to 10. Camryn McKay recorded 11 kills and Courtney Paxton had a season-high 10. Marissa Salber dished out 39 assists.

Iman Ghalibaf dug up 24 balls in a great defensive effort by the Storm, who finished the night with 66 digs. Marissa Salber had nine in the effort, Rachel Hardwick and Kaylee McAninch each chipped in seven, and Jacobs had five. Finch posted three solo blocks and an assist to lead the home team defensively at the net.

Up Next
Simpson has another tough league matchup tomorrow morning against Wartburg, which sits atop the A-R-C leaderboard with a perfect 4-0 record in conference play. The Storm will recognize their six seniors prior to the match.