DECORAH, Iowa – The Nebraska Wesleyan volleyball team returned to conference play on Friday night and suffered a 3-1 loss on the road at Luther College in Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action in Decorah, Iowa.  Luther won in scores of 25-16, 21-25, 25-15, 25-23.
 
With the loss, the Prairie Wolves drop to below .500 at 7-8 overall and 1-2 in IIAC play, while the Norse move to 9-6 and get their first IIAC victory at 1-1 in league play.
 
NWU had a rough first set, hitting -.040 as a team with seven errors and six errors.  Luther had a terrific first set pounding out 13 kills with only two errors for a .579 hitting percentage.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan bounced back to even the match at 1-1 with a strong second set.  The Prairie Wolves had 16 kills in the set to come away with the 25-21 victory.  NWU led 14-11 in the second set but Luther rallied back and eventually took a 19-18 advantage.  From there, the Prairie Wolves scored six of the next eight points and ended the set on a pair of aces from Sidney Mell.
 
Set three was very similar to the opening set as the Prairie Wolves struggled with seven errors and only eight kills, while Luther had a double digit kill total.  The fourth set was the most competitive and it looked like NWU was going to force a deciding fifth set.  NWU led 21-19 after an ace from Kelsie Stovall.  Luther then scored three straight points to take over the lead and they wouldn't trail again.  A service error by the Norse tied the set at 23-23, but a Luther kill and Prairie Wolves error gave the Norse two points for the win.
 
Kierra Harder led the Prairie Wolves posting a double-double of 12 kills and 10 digs.  She was the lone NWU player to reach double figures in kills.  Kelsie Stovall dished out 35 assists and Lizzie Saale led NWU with 13 digs.
 
The Prairie Wolves will be right back in action on Saturday when they face IIAC leader Wartburg College who is undefeated in league play.  NWU faces the Knights in Waverly, Iowa.