The Simpson women’s volleyball team suffered a straight-set loss to the Wartburg Knights in the teams’ Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener Wednesday night.

The Knights (7-1, 1-0) won 25-21, 25-18, 25-21 while hitting .354 to make quick work of Simpson (5-7, 0-1) in Waverly.

Mackenzie McGraw had a stand-out night for the Storm, leading the team with 10 kills and an efficient .471 kills percentage.

Jacqueline Luth and Tabitha Blaser had nine and eight kills respectively although it wasn’t enough to overcome a Wartburg attack that was led by Claire Willenbring who had 14 kills.

Not many other stats popped off the box score in the mid-week conference opener.

Emma Harmeyer served up 31 assists for the Knights though as Simpson’s Olivia Sulentic continued to chip in, adding a team-best 12 digs.

Simpson will get a rare weekend off before facing Luther College in Decorah at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22.