LINCOLN, Neb. – Wartburg College remained on top of the Iowa Conference volleyball standings as they came into Snyder Arena and swept Nebraska Wesleyan 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.  The Knights won in scores of 25-23, 25-15, 28-26.
 
Wartburg has now won nine straight matches to improve to 13-4 and 3-0 in IIAC action.  NWU went 1-2 during their three-match homestand and now sits at 9-7 overall and 2-2 in IIAC play.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan held an early advantage in the first set leading by five points at 14-9, then again at 18-13.  From there, the Knights took control and outscored NWU 10-1 to take a 23-19 lead.  A kill by Aryn Jones sealed the 25-23 win in the first set.
 
Set two also had NWU get off to an early lead at 5-3, before the Knights got ahead 11-8.  The Prairie Wolves tied it up at 13-13 before things fell apart for NWU.  Wartburg scored 12 of the next 14 points to earn the win.  During that stretch they recorded three service aces.
 
The third and final set was the most competitive of the day.  Neither team led by more than four points and it came down to several set points.  Wartburg led 24-23, but Hannah Bellinghausen got a kill to tie it at 24-24.  A kill by the Knights gave another set point, but they followed that with an error.  The same turn of events happened again making the score 26-26.  From there, Aryn Jones got a kill and the match ended on an error by the Prairie Wolves.
 
Wartburg hit .209 as a team with 44 total kills and seven blocks compared to one block and 38 kills for NWU.  Claire Willenbring led the Knights with 13 kills, while Jones had nine kills with a swing percentage of .471.
 
NWU had three players with eight kills (Malory Dahl, Hannah Bellinghausen and Kierra Harder).   Kennedy Hegert registered 20 digs and Taylor Crandall dished out 33 assists.