NAPERVILLE, Ill. – It took ten total sets of action but Nebraska Wesleyan got back on the winning track with a pair of five set victories on day one of the Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament at North Central College on Friday night (Oct. 18).  The Prairie Wolves took down Trine University 3-2, then closed the night with a 3-2 win over the host school North Central to cap the evening.
 
NWU improves to 12-7 on the year and snapped their three-match losing streak.  The Prairie Wolves will look to continue their winning ways on Saturday with two more matches.  They play Trine again in the morning then face Saint Mary (Ind.) to close the day.
 
Against Trine, the Prairie Wolves dropped the first set 25-16 then bounced back to win the next two sets 25-23, 25-20 to gain control.  Trine took set four 25-21 to force a deciding fifth set.  In the fifth set the lead changed twice and the match was tied five times before NWU finally won 15-11.
 
The Prairie Wolves finished the match with 51 total kills and a .222 hitting percentage compared to 61 kills and .174 hit percentage for Trine.
 
Three NWU players reached double figures in kills in the victory.  Hannah Bellinghausen led the way with 13 kills.  Cora Svoboda added 11 kills with a team-high five blocks.  Nicole Gonzales posted a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs.  Kelsie Stovall led the way with 23 total digs, while Cassidy Plooster dished out 31 assists.
 
Madison Munger had a huge match to lead Trine. Munger finished with 30 kills and 13 digs accounting for nearly half of her team's kills.
 
Immediately after playing a five-set thriller, the Prairie Wolves had to be back on the court to take on the host school.  North Central was able to win the first set 25-16 as NWU was still trying to recover from the previous match.  Just like the previous match, the Prairie Wolves took the next two sets 25-23, 25-19.  North Central won set four 25-17 to force a fifth set, which NWU was able to win 15-8.
 
North Central, which falls to 5-20, had 65 total kills in the match hitting .209.  They were led by Kelsey Boelter-Eberhardt who had 25 total kills.
 
NWU finished with 63 kills hitting .210 as a team.  Two players finished with double figures in kills during the second match of the night.
 
Bellinghausen had a huge match with 23 kills and a .281 hitting percentage.  Svoboda added 13 kills with two blocks.  Plooster posted a double-double with 35 assists and 12 digs, while Stovall had 26 digs.