Storm bounce back with 3-1 victory at Dubuque

DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Simpson College volleyball team got back in the win column with a 3-1 road victory against Dubuque on Saturday.

The Storm (12-11, 3-4 A-R-C) won the first two sets by nearly identical scores, 25-19 and 25-18. Simpson never trailed in the opening frame but had to dig out of an early 5-0 hole in the second. The third set was a back-and-forth affair until a 4-0 Spartan run gave the home team a 10-7 edge. Dubuque (10-15, 4-3 A-R-C) gained some more breathing room with another 4-0 spurt shortly after and eventually won 25-20.

Back-to-back kills from Jessica Jacobs gave Simpson a 16-13 lead in the fourth, but the Spartans rallied behind an 8-2 run to claim a three-point advantage of their own. Dubuque nearly forced the Storm into their third consecutive five-set match, but Simpson had other plans and managed to tie the set at 24-24 with four unanswered. An attack error put the visitors ahead 25-24 before a couple of ball handling errors by Dubuque resulted in a 27-25 Storm victory.

Jacobs knocked down a season-high 25 kills to notch her 13th consecutive game with double-digit kills dating back to Sept. 16. Courtney Paxton recorded a season-high 13 kills and Camryn McKay contributed eight.

Iman Ghalibaf (26) and Ragan Shelgren (21) both surpassed 20 digs to lead the Storm backline. Rachel Hardwick registered 13 digs and Marissa Salber chipped in nine to go with 49 assists and four kills.

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The Storm will close the regular season at Central on Tuesday. First serve is set for 6 p.m.