INDIANOLA, Iowa  – It was not the perfect storm the Luther College volleyball team was looking for. The Norse were looking for their first American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) win of the 2022 season Tuesday night, as they hit the road for Indianola, Iowa for a late night match against Simpson College. Unfortunately, Luther was unable to leave its location with a victory, as the team fell to the Storm 3-0 (23-25, 20-25, 13-25). With the loss, the Norse record stands at 3-8 with a 0-2 mark in A-R-C play.

IMPERFECT STORM
From the get go, it was clear Tuesday's match would be a close one between Luther and Simpson, as the two teams were equally scrappy, particularly on defense. Several times it looked like the Storm jumped out to a decisive lead, however, the Norse defense was right there to keep Luther in the opening set. Down 12-9, the Norse reset before making a three-point run to tie the set 12-12 on a service ace by Emma Kowalczyk (Colgate, Wis. / Catholic Memorial). From that point on, Luther was always within three of the Simpson lead and eventually whittled it to 23-22 in the latter stages of the set. In the end, though, the Norse had no answer to the Storm's outside attack, as the home team took the first by a score of 25-23. 

Luther's strong play continued in the second set, as adjustments on serve receive allowed the Norse to stay in system and utilize their middle blockers, Hannah LaBonte (Lake City, Minn. / Lincoln) and Sarina Stortz (Mable, Minn. / Mable-Canton). As a team, Luther hit .200 in the second set, tallying 13 kills on 40 attempts while committing just five errors.  However, some of those errors came late in the set. While the Norse played their best volleyball of the season, they were unable to capitalize on Simpson mistakes, falling behind 2-0 in the match after a 25-20 set two loss. 

After coming up short in the first and second sets, Luther was poised for a rally in the third. The Norse struggles on serve receive, though, plagued them in the third, as they fell behind 11-5 after near back-to-back aces by the Storm. Luther battled but could never overcome the early deficit, falling to Simpson by a final score of 3-0 (23-25, 20-25, 13-25).

TOP NORSE

• Junior Sarina Stortz (Mable, Minn. / Mable-Canton) was the top offensive player for the Norse Tuesday evening, wracking up a team-leading 10 kills while hitting .318 from the middle. 
• Emma Kowalczyk (Colgate, Wis. / Catholic Memorial) ended the match with 23 assists and three aces, while Kyah Olson-Sola (Northfield, Minn. / Northfield) closed the three-setter with a team-leading 12 digs. 

UP NEXT
Luther's schedule does not slow down this upcoming weekend, as the team is set to host the 2022 Norse Open at the Regents Center. The Norse will face #21 Augsburg University and Lawrence College on the opening day of the tournament, taking on the nationally ranked Auggies at 5:00 p.m. CT. More information regarding the 2022 Norse Open, including match times and participating teams, can be found online at www.luthernorse.com. 

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