Simpson Storm women’s volleyball team starts the 25th Simpson Volleyball Invitational with solid play after 1-1 split against Grinnell and St. Benedict.

The Storm beat Grinnell with a 3-0 sweep (25-13), (25-8), (27-25) in Friday night’s double header. The Storm had contributions from Lauren Martin, Steph Keller, and Katie Kieffer in a well-rounded game for the Storm who improved to 3-7.

The Storms Lauren Martin led the team with 10 kills while Steph Keller chipped in with 9 kills. Katie Kieffer also dished out 22 Assists. McKaylie Croghan also had nine kills for the Storm who won their first matchup of their doubleheader.

The second part of the double header didn’t fare too well for the Storm as they fell to a St.Benedict team from St. Cloud, Minnesota. St.Benedict came into Friday receiving votes from the American Volleyball Association Top 25 Poll.

The Storm fell 3-0 (25-15) , (25-19), (25-13) second game of the doubleheader. Kate Kieffer had 21 assists while Lauren Martin 7 kills. Tabitha Blaser also added six kills as the Storm stand at 3-8.

The Storm will face Nebraska Wesleyan at 12:15 p.m. and Coe at 2:30 as the Simpson Invitational concludes Saturday.

Simpson women’s volleyball team finishes the 25th Simpson Volleyball Invitational 1-3, as they fall to Nebraska Wesleyan and Coe College Saturday afternoon.

Simpson College who entered the contest with a record of (3-8) ended up losing to Nebraska Wesleyan in a competitive five set matchup (3-2). Both teams went back and forth in their respective victories but the Storm came up short in the fifth and final set 15-11.

The Storm were led by MacKenzie McGraw with 20 kills, Tabitha Blaser chipped in with 15 kills, while Lauren Martin added 10.

In the second game of the double header finale, Simpson faced Coe in an early IIAC conference matchup.

The Storm chased out to an early lead as they had a 1-0 set advantage against Coe to begin the ball game. Coe College came out on top as they took control by taking three straight sets.

Steph Keller and MacKenzie McGraw led the Storm with 16 kills a piece. Audrey Schuttler added 14 digs as the Storm fell to (3-10) on the season.

As the Storm get ready to face the heart of their schedule, specifically against Iowa Conference teams, the Storm hope that this weekend will prepare them for late season matchups they will encounter.

Senior outside hitter Steph Keller hopes that this weekend was beneficial for her team.

“Any time we get to play together we keep improving and building better team unity.” Keller said. “Hopefully we can benefit from the overall playing aspect as well as how to keep our own tempo of the match.”

The Storm faces conference opponent Luther on Wednesday, Sept. 19. Game starts at 7:30 p.m.