NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Nebraska Wesleyan volleyball team dropped its first two matches on Friday (Oct. 13) to open the Tiffany Robinson Memorial tournament that is being hosted by North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.
 
NWU lost the opening match, 3-1, to Carroll (Wis.) then was sept 3-0 by Bethel University.  The Prairie Wolves fell to 8-12 and will play two more matches on Saturday.
 
Against Carroll, the two teams battled closely in the first set.  With the scored tied at 24-24 a Prairie Wolves service error gave Carroll the lead and they closed the set win with a kill to earn the 26-24 victory.
 
Set two was much easier for Carroll as they jumped ahead 14-9, then were up 18-10 and cruised the rest of the way.  Nebraska Wesleyan had a negative hitting percentage of -.080 in the second set as Carrol won 25-14.
 
NWU bounced back to take the third set 25-20 and force a fourth set.  In that third set the Prairie Wolves held a 18-8 lead and didn't allow Carroll to make up much ground.  A kill from Cora Svoboda gave the Prairie Wolves set point, then after a Carroll kill the set was won on an error.
 
The fourth and final set was also very competitive and it looked as if NWU would force a fifth set.  The Prairie Wolves got an ace from Karrie Sestak to lead 22-19.  However, Carroll would score six of the next seven points to earn the 25-23 win.
 
Kierra Harder led the Prairie Wolves with 13 kills as the only NWU player to reach double figures in kills.  Cora Svoboda added nine kills and four block solos for 13 total points.  Kelsie Stovall recorded a double-double of 29 assists and 16 digs.
 
In the nightcap against Bethel, the match started very similar to how the opener went.  The two teams battled in the first set with Bethel finally earning the 26-24 victory.  They they completed the sweep rather easily winning the next two sets 25-17, 25-15.
 
The Prairie Wolves had 31 kills in the match, compared to 40 for Bethel.  NWU hit just .061 overall with 24 attack errors.
 
Svoboda led the way with six kills and one block.  Sarah Oldfather got her first action of the season and produced well with six kills and a solo block.  Anna Gottsch dished out a team-high 16 assists and Harder led the way with 11 digs.