ELMHURST, Ill. – Volleyball finished Friday of the two day invitational at Elmhurst College (Ill.) 1-1, after defeating Bethany (W.V.) and falling to St. Mary’s (Ind.) in match two of the night.

Match 1 – Simpson 3, Bethany 2 (25-19, 16-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-12)

Both teams erupted for stellar offensive performances Friday, as Bethany finished with a .327 kills percentage, only .27 percentage points lower than Simpson’s blistering .354 kills percentage.

Teams went back and forth, trading sets until Simpson (9-10) eeked out a 15-12 victory in set five, riding a .333 kills percentage in the final set to clinch match one of the invitational.

Bethany (W.V.) (16-7) had good individual performances from Dakota McKenzie, 17 kills, and Mackenzie Lauber, 50 assists, but it wasn’t enough to squelch the Storm attack.

Freshman Elisa Wildy had a breakout performance, leading a balanced Storm attack with 16 kills. Four other Storm players finished in double-digits for kills, as Jacqueline Luth added 12, Mackenzie McGraw had 15 and Tabitha Blaser chipped in with 10.

Katie Kieffer lit up the assists column with 51 and Olivia Suentic lead the team in digs with 22.

Match 2: Simpson 1, St. Mary’s (Ind.) 3 (17-25, 21-25, 25-17, 19-25)

Simpson’s offensive attack cooled off considerably in match two of the evening, as their kills percentage dropped a total of .186 percentage points down to .168 in match two.

On the other side of the court, St. Mary’s (9-8) started off the match with a .640 kills percentage in set one, followed by a .310 percentage in set two, getting the Belles off to a 2-0 lead.

The Storm (9-11) rebounded to salvage set three, but were cut short in set four, ending with a meager .077 in the final frame.

No Storm player got into double-digits for kills, as Jacqueline Luth lead the team with nine.

Katie Kieffer recorded 29 assists, a run-of-the-mill amount for the standout setter, as Simpson only compiled 55 total points in their 3-1 loss to St. Mary’s

Saturday, Oct. 11:

Volleyball will look to come away from the Elmhurst (Ill.) invite with at least a 2-2 performance on the weekend as they battle St. Olaf (Minn.) and Washington University (Mo.) on Saturday. Match one kicks off at 10 a.m.