LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska Wesleyan battled hard against GPAC leader Northwestern College, but the Red Raiders prevailed 3-1 over the Prairie Wolves on Friday night (Oct. 24) at Snyder Arena in Lincoln.

The 15th-ranked Prairie Wolves did hand the 6th-ranked Red Raiders their first set loss since the GPAC opener as they had won 32 consecutive sets dating back to early September.  The match ended in scores of 25-18, 25-20, 22-25, 25-21. 

NWU falls to 19-6 overall and 7-6 in GPAC, while the Red Raiders remain unbeaten in conference play at 12-0, 25-2 overall.

Northwestern had several key runs throughout the match starting in the first set.  The Red Raiders led 11-10, but outscored NWU 8-2 over a key stretch to build up a lead that was too much to overcome.

NWU looked poised to take the second set as they led 20-17 after an attack error from Northwestern.  However, the Red Raiders went on a 8-0 run to earn the 25-20 set victory.  During the stretch, NWU had five attack errors with Northwestern getting three blocks at the net.

The Prairie Wolves built up another big lead in the third set as they got up 19-11.  Northwestern slowly chipped away and scored seven unanswered points to make the score 19-18.  A Malory Dahl kill ended the Northwestern rally and Katelyn Walsh sealed the 25-22 victory with a kill.

In the fourth set, the lead changed three times with NWU last holding a 13-12 advantage.  Northwestern scored four unanswered points and never trailed again as they won 25-21.

NWU hit just .106 as a team with only one player in double figures in kills.  The Prairie Wolves were without senior Alyssa Stanek, who missed the match for a graduate school interview.  Malory Dahl led the way with 11 kills.  Kelsey Bahe dished out 23 assists and Mackenzie Ashton had 23 digs.

Northwestern had 59 total kills led by Karlie Schut's double-double of 18 kills, 13 digs.