Playing in its first-ever tournament, the Simpson College men’s volleyball team dropped a pair of games to Cumberland and Central Christian College of Kansas.
The Storm (0-4) started the day with a 3-0 loss to Cumberland (8-7). The Phoenix took set one by a score of 25-10 and then committed just one attack error in set two, winning 25-12. Cumberland completed the sweep with a 25-11 set three victory.

Simpson’s second match was a tight 3-0 loss to the hosts Central Christian (1-17). In the first set, the Storm fell behind 13-5 but managed to close the gap to 14-12. The two squads traded four points before Central Christian went on a 6-2 run to lead 24-18. Simpson fought off three set points thanks to a service error and two kills by Cody Durbin, but the Tigers got a kill of their own to close things out 25-21.

The Storm were the ones to take an early lead in set two as a kill by Potratz put them ahead 13-7. The Tigers began chipping away at the lead and the set was tied at 20-20 before Central Christian scored five of the last eight points to move ahead 2-0 with a slim 25-23 victory.

In the third set, neither team led by more than three until a Teske kill put Simpson ahead 21-17. Kills by Teske, Alex Aguirre and Gordon set up match point for the Storm, but Simpson couldn’t close it out and the teams continued to trade points until Central Christian finally won 29-27.