Senior Kylie Roe matched a career-high with 17 kills while fellow seniors Brooke Runneberg and Serena Sandvig each set career-highs with 17 and 15, respectively, on Tuesday night, to help lead the Buena Vista volleyball team back from a 2-0 deficit to knock off visiting Simpson College in five sets.

BVU had not only dropped the first two sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-21, it appeared for a moment that it may have lost its starting setter in the process.  Sophomore Mackenzie Gropel went down with a leg injury right at the end of the second set, but was able to slowly walk off the court and seek additional treatment.  After the team came back out of the locker room during the set break, Gropel, however, was back out in the mix despite being a little more limited in her mobility and explosiveness.

That may have just been the spark the team needed.  Already down to a roster of only eight, the Beavers couldn't afford any devastating injury, so Gropel's reapperance was a huge lift.  She began the third set with a service ace, despite going away from her usual jump serve.  BVU scored four of the first six points in the set, but it was back-and-forth throughout.  It was all tied at 6-6 and neither team led by more than two until BVU pushed in front 15-12. The lead later grew to 18-14 before a kill by freshman Sydney McLaren was the team's 18th of the set and capped off the 25-17 victory.

BVU was again effective at the net in the fourth with 15 kills and just five errors.  It used a key 8-3 run early in the set to take the lead for good, including its largest lead at 18-9.  An attack error by the Storm gave the home team a 25-18 triumph.

It then all came down to the decisive fifth set, and the Storm had the early lead and later kept the advantage at 8-7 as the two teams switched sides.  Simpson then scored the first point after the switch to go in front, 9-7, but back-to-back attack errors by Simpson, followed by an ace serve from Summer Goss, put BVU in front 11-9.  After kills from McLaren and Runneberg gave the Beavers the insurance they needed, they were able to hold off a late surge by Simpson to take the set, 15-12, and win for the 23rd time in their last 28 home matches.

"I have never been so inspired by a team," says head coach Aubrey Havlichek.  "That was the definition of coming together, having each other's back and fighting through adversity.  We talk all the time about how mich more adversity we face with an eight-person team, so we have to be sharper mentally and a bit cleaner in our execution than everyone else."

"Sets three through five were exactly that," she added.  "When Mack [Mackenzie Gropel] went down, everyone stepped their game up to keep her in it and she set the cleanest she has all season.  Our middle tempo continues to speed up and they've done a great job adjusting, establishing themselves and working shots.  Despite a few too many net errors, our blocking was on point.  We have a determined squad that's getting it done on the court and working to build our culture off the court, and Rosie and I couldn't be more proud."

Sandvig posted a match-high attack percentage of .406 on 32 total swings, while Runneberg's .316 was right behind.  As a team, BVU tallied 69 total kills and posted a .230 team attack percentage.  The 69 kills are the second-most by any confernece team all season.  Gropel capped off a remarkable night with a career-high 58 assists which is the seventh-most in a five-set match in program history.  It's the most in a five-set match for any conference team this season and the most for BVU in any match since Laura Barry had 59 at Luther back on October 13, 2014.

Junior Summer Goss provided the depth in the back court for BVU, chalking up 23 more digs while McLaren chipped in with 13.

The Beavers (9-4, 2-1 A-R-C) have now won four of the last five meetings with the Storm (6-11, 1-2 A-R-C).

Buena Vista will turn around this weekend with four matches during the Midseason Showcase hosted by Millikin at Decatur, Ill.  The team begins play on Friday with matches against Thomas More at 4:00pm before playing both Wittenberg and Hope on Saturday at 10:00am and 12:00pm, respectively.  The next American Rivers match for the Beavers is on the road on October 5 at league-leading Dubuque.