Knights hang on to beat Simpson on Senior Day

INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Simpson College volleyball team forced a fifth set with a dominating 25-12 win in the fourth, but Wartburg eked out a 16-14 win the deciding set to spoil the Storm's hopes of a big comeback victory on Senior Day.

The Knights (16-4, 5-0 A-R-C) won the first two games 25-23 and 25-21, but the Storm didn't go down without a fight. Simpson (11-10, 2-3 A-R-C) maintained the advantage for the entirety of the third set to win 25-21 before putting together a huge 11-0 run in the fourth en route to a lopsided 25-12 victory.

In the fifth set, Wartburg jumped out to a 6-1 lead but Simpson rallied to tie things up at 8-8. Kills from Peyton Mitchell and Josie O'Brien gave the Storm a pair of crucial points before an Autumn Finch kill and Wartburg service error put Simpson two points away from the win at 13-10. O'Brien added another kill to set up match point, but the Knights scored four in a row to steal the victory.

Simpson finished the game with a season-high 65 kills. Jacobs led the squad with 21, while Camryn McKay added a dozen and Courtney Paxton (8), Mitchell (7) and Finch (7) combined for 22. The Storm hit .217 overall including .303 in the third and .44 in the fourth.

Defensively, the Storm held the American Rivers Conference's most efficient hitting team to a .163 clip. The Knights amassed 55 kills with Allison Feigenbaum (13) and Emerson Kracht (11) each reaching double figures.

Simpson recorded 14 more digs than the Knights with 86 total. Iman Ghalibaf (21), Marissa Salber (17) and Rachel Hardwick (11) each reached double-digits and Ragan Shelgren was one shy with nine.

Along with her seven kills, Finch recorded three solo blocks and six block assists to lead the Storm to a 13-6 advantage in the category. Mitchell also had three solo denials and Paxton got her hands on four blocks.

With 48 assists, Salber surpassed 1500 career assists to crack into the top-10 all-time.

Prior to the match, Simpson celebrated its six seniors including Maraya Haynes, Jacobs, O'Brien, Lexie Parks, Salber and Melissa Sanchez.

Up Next
Simpson has just under two weeks of a break before returning to the court to take on Loras and Dubuque on the road. The Storm will then close the regular season at Central on Oct. 26.