INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Wartburg College volleyball team (15-12) fell to the Simpson Storm (19-7) in the first round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament, three sets to one. The Knights end their season with 15-12, and a 4-4 mark in conference play. 

Kaylee Koudelka led the Knights in kills with 15, followed by Whitney Klyn with 12. Sophie Sedgwick racked up a team-high 25 assists to go with 12 digs, and Peyton Robinson led all players in the match with 22 digs, followed by Klyn with 16.

The first set was tightly contested, with neither team taking a lead larger than four. The set included seven ties and three lead changes. The Knights buckled down after trailing in the set 23-24, rattling off three straight points to take the first set 26-24.

Wartburg started the second set strong, taking a 4-1 lead. The Storm would go on a 17-6 run to lead 18-10 to force a Wartburg timeout. The Knights came out of the timeout with five straight points to bring the score to 15-18. Simpson would go on the take the set, 25-19.

The Knights came out firing again in the third set, taking a 10-4 lead early in the set. Wartburg would retain the lead and had a 15-13 lead exiting their first timeout. Simpson would outscore Wartburg 12-5 the rest of the way to take the third set 25-18.

The final set was all Simpson, taking the fourth set 25-14. Wartburg could not get kills to fall, hitting just .043 in the final set.

In the match, Wartburg was held to a .056 hitting percentage, compared to the .175 of Simpson.