Taylor Simpson

Arkansas

Sep 12 (Fri)

6 PM

Position:
Outside Hitter
Height:
6-3
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Colorado Springs, Colo.
High School:
Doherty/Missouri

As a Senior in 2014
Simpson will likely go down in CU history as one of its best players, thanks in part to an outstanding senior season. CU’s first ever AVCA first-team All-American, she played in 127 sets, starting in all 33 matches she played as a senior. Simpson broke CU’s single season kills record (518), hammering 591 during the year. An offensive powerhouse, Simpson hammered 20 or more kills in 10 matches, which broke CU’s record of nine matches with 20 or more kills in a season. In total, she recorded double-digit kills in 32 matches and had 22 double-doubles. Simpson tied a career-high with 22 digs in the five-set win against No. 2 Washington. She also recorded 29 kills in the contest to become just the fifth Buff to ever tally two or more career 20-20 double-doubles. Her other 20-20 double-double came against Utah on Nov. 27, 2013 with 20 kills and 22 digs. Simpson recorded a career-best 32 kills in the five-set thriller against Colorado State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Dec. 6. The 32 kills tied for the eighth-best total in Buffs history. She also hit .426 in the match, her third best hitting efficiency of the year. Simpson ranked 11th in the NCAA with 4.65 kills per set, which was fourth in the Pac-12. She was also 15th in the NCAA in points per set (5.18), fifth in the Pac-12. Simpson was an all-around player as she was second on the team with 2.71 digs per set and averaged 0.57 blocks per set. She recorded 344 digs, 72 blocks and 22 aces during the year while hitting .298.

In addition to her All-America honor, she also earned first-team All-Pac-12 and All-AVCA Pacific South Region accolades. She was also selected as the state’s Female College Athlete of the Year for 2014 by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and was named the team’s offensive MVP for the second straight season. She was a member of the Northern Illinois, Omni Classic and Creighton Classic teams and was the MVP of the Omni Invitational. A Preseason Pac-12 selection, Simpson was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week twice and was the only player this year to be named the ESPNW Volleyball Player of the Week two times. Simpson recorded 981 kills, 632 digs and 140 blocks in just two years.

Spring/Summer of 2014
Simpson had a busy spring and summer on the volleyball court. She was invited to train with the U.S. Women’s National Training Team in Anaheim, Calif. in March for a few weeks and returned to Anaheim after classes were completed in May. Simpson was also selected to compete on the Pac-12 All-Stars team in China. The team competed against the professional team from Fujian Province and the Chinese Junior National Team in Sanming and the professional team from Beijing and the Chinese Junior National Team again in Beijing.

As a Junior in 2013
Simpson was a highly decorated addition to the Buffs’ offense for the 2013 season. Playing in all but three matches, Simpson led the team in kills (390) and points (1,131), which ranked eighth and ninth in the Pac-12 Conference. She also ranked second on the team in digs (288) and third in blocks (64). In 25 of 29 matches Simpson played in, she had 10 or more kills, and in four of those matches she recorded 20 or more kills. Her career-high of 23 kills came against Washington State (10/6). She was the first Buff since 2011 to record a 20-20 double when she had 20 kills and a career-high 22 digs against Utah (11/27). Simpson also recorded 14 double-doubles on the year. Early in the season, Simpson was named to the Baylor Invitational All-Tournament Team and the Candlewood Suites Invitational MVP. The four-time CU Athlete of the Week was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection and an AVCA All-Pacific South Region honorable mention honoree. Simpson ranks 22^nd on CU’s single-season kills list and 16^th on the single-season attacks list. Her performance all season-long earned her the team’s offensive MVP award, as well as CU’s Female Athlete of the Year honor.

Spring 2013
Simpson joined the Buffs in January and shortly after she tried out and made the USA Volleyball A2 National Team which competed during the summer in Dallas. She also earned a spot on the roster for the USA Beach Volleyball A2 National Team that trained and competed in southern California.

College (Missouri)
Simpson played in 14 matches for the Tigers, starting in eight of those contests (47 sets). During the 2012 season, she recorded 118 kills and hit .267. She also added 50 digs and 30 blocks for 139.0 points. Simpson recorded 12 kills and 13 digs against Virginia Tech (8/26/12) and led the Tigers with 11 kills against Appalachian State (9/1/12). Mizzou finished the year 19-11.

College (Nebraska)
Simpson played in 12 matches (34 sets) before she was sidelined with a season-ending injury in 2011. She recorded four kills on six attacks for a hitting percentage of .500 against Weber State (9/10/11). Simpson also posted three blocks against New Mexico State (8/26/11) and Albany (9/3/11). The Huskers won the Big Ten Championship that year and went on to play in the NCAA Tournament. NU finished the season with a 25-5 overall record.

High School
Simpson had a much decorated career at Doherty High School. As a senior, she garnered numerous awards, which included being named the Colorado 5A Player of the Year and earning the Sportswomen of Colorado high school volleyball award. Simpson was named the No. 9 player in the country by Prepvolleyball.com and was named to Volleyball Magazine’s Fab-50. Simpson played in the Under Armour All-American game for the red team and was also named to the AVCA High School All-American first team, as well as an ESPN RISE All-American honorable mention selection. Simpson was also tabbed as a Preseason All-American by MaxPreps. She also recorded 471 kills, 60 blocks, 312 digs and 21 aces as a senior.
During Simpson’s senior and junior years, she was named to the All-Colorado Team, PrepVolleyball.com’s High School All-American Team, First Team All-Colorado 5A and helped her team finish third at the state championships both seasons.

As a junior, Simpson was named to the MaxPreps All-American Team and PrepVolleyball's Top-50 Juniors list. She was also honored as the Colorado 5A Player of the Year. That season she notched 446 kills, 46 blocks, 30 aces and 289 digs.

During her three seasons at DHS, Simpson was named first team All-Colorado Springs Metro League and first team All-4A/5A Area. As a sophomore, she helped DHS to a fifth-place finish at the state championship and was named to the All-Colorado 5A second team.

Simpson was also involved with USA Volleyball in high school. She earned a spot on the 2010 U.S. Youth Olympic Team that finished second in Singapore at the Inaugural Youth Olympics. Simpson led the team at the tournament and recorded 11 kills, six blocks and an ace in the final match of the tournament. She was also a member of the USA Youth National Training Team.

Personal
Taylor Elise Simpson was born on September 10, 1993 in Colorado Springs, Colo. She is the daughter of Rick and Serena Simpson. Rick played basketball at Louisiana Tech and Serena played basketball at UMKC. Her sisters, Cierra and Gabby, won the 2012 Colorado 5A State Volleyball Championship at DHS. Cierra is a junior on the CU volleyball team and Gabby is a sophomore for the Buffs. Simpson has another younger sister, Riley. Simpson enjoys writing, readying, traveling and playing sports.

Academics
Simpson majored in political science.