BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Nebraska Wesleyan closed out their 2018 volleyball season by going 1-2 at the Illinois Wesleyan University Invitational that was played over the weekend in Bloomington, Ill.  NWU opened the tournament with a 3-0 sweep over Centre, then fell 3-1 to Illinois College on Friday.  The Prairie Wolves were swept 3-0 by 14^th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday morning.
 
NWU finishes the 2018 season with a 9-16 overall record as they did not qualify for the American Rivers Conference postseason tournament.
 
On Friday, the Prairie Wolves got the weekend off to a great start with a 3-0 sweep over Centre.  NWU won easily in scores of 25-13, 25-12, 25-12.  Nebraska Wesleyan limited to Centre to just a .000 hitting percentage.  The Prairie Wolves finished with 39 total kills with only seven errors to hit .276.
 
Kierra Harder led the Prairie Wolves attack recording 14 kills and a .364 hitting percentage to go along with eight digs.  Hannah Bellinghausen had nine kills with zero errors hitting .500. 
 
Anna Gottsch dished out 22 assists with eight digs, while Cassidy Plooster had 11 assists.  Lizzie Saale led NWU with 15 digs.
 
To close out play on Friday, the Prairie Wolves and Illinois College played a very competitive match. Illinois College ended up on top winning 25-20, 21-25, 25-17, 27-25.
 
After IC won the first set, the teams went back and forth in set two.  The set was tied 11 times with six different lead changes.  With the set tied at 21-21, NWU got on a roll.  Kills by Harder and Gottsch put the Prairie Wolves up two, then a ball handling error made it 24-21.  Taylor Stout and Gottsch combined on a block to earn the set victory.
 
Illinois College led majority of the third set on the way to a 25-17 victory.  The most competitive set was the fourth set where it was tied 11 eleven times along with six lead changes.  An IC error gave NWU set point at 25-24, but a service error and two straight attack errors gave Illinois College the win.
 
Harder ended with a double-double of 21 kills and 13 digs.  Also reaching double figures in kills was Taylor Stout with 10 kills.  Gottsch dished out 32 assists and Saale had a team-high 34 digs.
 
14^th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan proved to be too much for the Prairie Wolves on Saturday morning.  The nationally-ranked Titans won their 16^th straight match in scores of 25-21, 25-14, 25-18.
 
Cora Svoboda led NWU with nine kills and a .471 hitting percentage.  Gottsch handed out 20 assists with eight digs and Saale had a team-high 10 digs.