PELLA, Iowa – In their first ever Iowa Conference volleyball match, the Nebraska Wesleyan volleyball team made their presence in the new league known with a 3-2 win at Central College on Tuesday night (Sept. 20) in Pella, Iowa.
 
NWU won the first two sets 25-15, 26-24 before Central rallied to take the next two sets 22-25, 20-25 forcing a deciding fifth set.  In the fifth set the Prairie Wolves came away with the 15-11 win to earn the match victory and improve to 8-5 on the season.
 
The Prairie Wolves cruised to the first set victory getting out to an early 10-3 lead.  They increased the lead to 18-6 and never looked back in the conference opener.  Set two was much more competitive until NWU built up a five-point lead at 19-14.  Central scored six of the next seven points to tie the match at 20-20.  NWU had set point at 24-23, but a Dutch kill tied the score at 24-24.  A service error and attack error by Central gave NWU the two winning points.
 
Central got out to an early lead in the third set and NWU never would recover.  They did tie the match 16-16, but the Dutch regained the lead and won set three 25-22.  The Dutch went ahead early in the fourth set again, then NWU tied it at 11-11.  The set was tied again at 13-13, but Central never trailed again to force the fifth set.
 
NWU jumped ahead 7-3 in the fifth set then saw Central pull within one point at 11-10.  Malory Dahl recorded a kill, followed by two errors for the Dutch making the score 14-10.  Central recorded one kill to cut the lead to 14-11, but Kierra Harder sealed the win with a kill for the Prairie Wolves.
 
Malory Dahl led the Prairie Wolves with 20 kills on 63 attempts.  Kierra Harder also reached double figures in kills with 13.  Taylor Crandall posted a double-double of 42 assists and 22 digs.  Kennedy Hegert had 25 digs and Sid Mell chipped in 21 digs.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan is now off for one week until they make their home debut on Sept. 27 by hosting Buena Vista.