St. Paul, Minn. – It was a thrilling day for the Nebraska Wesleyan volleyball team as they split a pair of five-set matches on day two of the St. Kate's Invitational in St. Paul, Minn.  NWU dropped the opening match to Saint Mary's, 3-2, then won a 3-2 match over Hamline.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan and Saint Mary's played about as tight of match as two teams could play.  The first three sets all went extra time with Saint Mary's winning 26-24, 27-29, 26-24, 22-25, 15-12.
 
NWU actually led 12-9 in the fifth and final set as they looked like they would pull away and earn the hard fought victory.  However, Saint Mary's scored six unanswered points for the comeback victory.  Three straight NWU attack errors were followed up by two SMC kills in the dramatic finish.
 
Kierra Harder led the Prairie Wolves with 11 kills in the match.  As a team, the Prairie Wolves had 45 kills, but also had 41 errors for a .020 hitting percentage.  Saint Mary's had 51 kills, led by Brandi Blattner with 22.
 
Taylor Crandall posted a double-double for NWU with 40 assists and 16 digs, with Kennedy Hegert recording 37 digs.
 
Having to play after a five-set slugfest is difficult and NWU was slow out of the game against Hamline as they dropped the first set 25-18.  From there the Prairie Wolves bounced back with a 25-12 set two victory, Hamline won set three 25-20 and the fourth set was NWU's at 25-14.  The fifth set went past 15 points as the Prairie Wolves prevailed 16-14.
 
After losing the lead in the fifth set of the earlier match, it was NWU that made the rally against Hamline.  Trailing 13-11, NWU took advantage of a pair of errors to tie it up at 13-13.  Hamline got a kill to lead 14-13 and set up match point.  Nebraska Wesleyan didn't fold as Kierra Harder recorded a kill to tie it up at 13-13.  Harder then got a solo block to put NWU up 15-14 and Taylor Crandall teamed up with Karrie Sestak for a dramatic game-winning block for the win.
 
Malory Dahl led NWU against Hamline with 18 kills as the only player in double digit kills.  NWU finished with 47 total kills and a much better .112 hitting percentage in the second match.
 
Sid Mell led NWU with 24 digs and Kennedy Hegert added 20.  Crandall dished out 41 assists with nine digs.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan travels to Illinois next weekend to take part in the North Park Tournament.