STORM LAKE, Iowa (October 27, 2021) - Seniors Jade Hays and Sydney McLaren put on their Buena Vista University volleyball jerseys one final time on Wednesday night, and the duo will not soon forget the team's thrilling five-set American Rivers Conference victory over Simpson College inside of Siebens Fieldhouse.

The opening set was one to remember as both teams went back-and-forth down the stretch en route to a wild 35-33 finish in favor of the Storm.  Simpson faced set point with a 24-22 lead but BVU came all the way back to regain the lead at 25-24.  There were four different lead changes and eight ties before the Storm rolled off the final three points.

It was all Simpson in the second set after rolling off five straight points early to take a 9-2 lead.  That margin later grew to 19-7 before the Storm turned in the final four points to win 25-12.

McLaren, Hays and the rest of the team were not about to let the season come to an end, and they began the comeback by holding off Simpson 25-23 in the third set after holding a 24-18 advantage.  The fourth set was nothing short of exciting as well with BVU rolling off five straight points for a 5-1 lead.  The Storm came right back to regain a 7-6 cushion and the see-saw battle continued the rest of the way.  BVU trailed 17-14 before scoring three straight points to pull even on a ball handling error by Simpson.  The Storm faced match-point at 24-20 before sophomore Rachel Brockney took over for the Beavers.

Brockney's kill made it 24-21 and then she would serve out the set with the help of two kills from McLaren, another from Taylor Wedemeyer and an ace serve that gave BVU the lead at 25-24.  It was McLaren's second kill during that stretch that pushed things to a fifth set.

BVU came out dealing in the final frame, and used a big block from Courtney Johnson and Brockney that sparked a pivotal 4-0 run that gave the Beavers a 10-6 lead.  Simpson was unable to recover from there as a kill from McLaren and an ace serve from Wedemeyer sent the crowd into a frenzy as the Beavers completed the comeback.

McLaren finished with 22 kills and 13 digs for her 12th double-double of the season.  She finishes her career ranked fifth on the program's all-time kills list with 973 and also moved past 900 career digs to finish with 907.

Brockney registered a career-high 14 kills and 18 digs for her first career double-double while Hays turned in 20 digs to finish her career with 806.  Wedemeyer dished out 43 assists and added 12 digs.

Simpson, which dropped to 7-13 overall (4-4 A-R-C) was led by Jessica Jacobs' match-high 28 kills.  She was the only player to reach double figures as Teria Campbell and Blayne Koster each followed with nine.

Buena Vista closes out its season at 10-10 overall and 3-5 in conference play.