Volleyball tripped up by Beavers in A-R-C first round

STORM LAKE, Iowa – The Simpson College volleyball team saw its season come to an end in the first round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament. The No. 6-seeded Storm faced off against the No. 3-seeded Beavers on the road, falling 25-23, 25-22 and 25-12.

Simpson concludes the year with a 13-12 overall record, the team's highest win total since 2014 and the first winning season since 2013. The Storm went 4-4 in the conference for the second year in a row.

The Storm and Beavers engaged in two tight sets to start the night. Buena Vista (12-11, 5-3 A-R-C) took an early lead in the first but Simpson battled back with a 13-3 run to lead 17-14. The Storm went ahead 23-21 but the home team took the final four points to win 25-23.

The second set was tied 10 times and had five lead changes. Another late 4-0 run gave Buena Vista a 22-19 advantage and the Beavers capitalized on an ace and a couple of service errors for a 25-22 victory. The hosts carried the momentum of a 2-0 lead into the third set and finished things out with a commanding 25-12 win.

The Beavers held the Storm to their third-lowest attacking percentage of the season and had a 6-1 advantage in blocks. 

Jessica Jacobs led the visitors with her 15th consecutive game with double-digit kills. She tallied 11 in the match to finish her season with 381 and two-year career at Simpson with 722.

Iman Ghalibaf reached the 20-dig plateau for the 12th time this season to bring her 2022 total to 433. She will carry a career total of 790 into her senior campaign next fall.

Marissa Salber dished out 21 assists to close her career in 10th place on Simpson's all-time leaderboard with 1647 career assists.