Win Over No. 5 St. Thomas Highlights Storm Stay At Border Battle
A win over No. 5 St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon highlighted Simpson's stay at the IIAC-MIAC Border Battle in St. Paul, Minn. this weekend. Simpson went 2-2 at the IIAC-MIAC Border Battle. The Storm dropped a pair of matches to ranked opponents on Friday. No. 21 St. Benedict defeated Simpson 3-0 to begin the tournament. Whitney Oviatt (Jr., Carnation, Wash., Cedarcrest H.S.) led the Storm with 11 kills. Lara Gillespie (Jr., Lake Park H.S., Harris-Lake Park H.S.) and Amy Schuster (So., Indianola, Iowa, Indianola H.S.) each put up seven kills. Tara Christensen (Jr., Hinton, Iowa, Hinton H.S.) had 27 assists, five kills, and two digs.No. 14 Concordia-Moorhead defeated Simpson 3-1 to end Friday play. Gillespie posted a match high 17 kills to pace the Storm. Schuster charted 17 digs and nine kills. Brittany Friesth (Jr., Adel, Iowa, ADM H.S.) had 15 digs. Christensen dished out 38 assists, posted seven digs, and had six kills.
"Against St. Benedict, we were competitive, but we made some unforced errors," said Simpson head coach Lana Smith. "Concordia was bigger than us up front."
Simpson rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat No. 5 St. Thomas 3-2 to begin play Saturday afternoon. The Storm lost the first set 25-22, and set two 25-23. Simpson got back on track with a 25-21 victory in set three. The Storm took set four 25-22. Simpson went up 9-1 in the fifth set before the Tommies tied it 9-9 and again at 11-11, but the Storm pushed on, taking the final set 15-13. Five of the seven Storm starters had double figure digs, led by Friesth who had 18. Gillespie posted 18 kills and 14 digs while Schuster had 17 kills and 11 digs. Oviatt had 14 kills and five blocks. Christensen posted a season high 61 assists and 11 digs. Lexie Hagerty (Jr., Tama, Iowa, South Tama H.S.) had 13 digs.
"We made adjustments after the second game that allowed us to shut them down offensively," said Smith. "We were able to balance out our offense to get us going. It was a huge win for us."
Simpson defeated Bethel 3-2 to end the meet Saturday afternoon. The Storm came back from a 2-1 disadvantage to earn the victory. Schuster and Oviatt each charted 15 kills. Gillespie put up 13 kills and 11 digs. Friesth had 21 digs. Rebecca Westphal (Jr., Fontanelle, Iowa, Nodaway Valley H.S.) tallied 14 digs with Hagerty registering 10 digs. Christensen had 49 assists, 12 digs, and five kills.
"Bethel was similar to St. Thomas in that we had to make some adjustments to be successful," Smith said. "Bethel threw some non-traditional things at us. We played hard and learned a lot. It was a good weekend for us."
Friesth was selected to the All-Tournament team. She recorded 63 digs as the Storm libero.
Simpson resumes action Tuesday, Oct. 21 with a home match against Wartburg.