LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska Wesleyan remained unbeaten at home and in the American Rivers Conference as the Prairie Wolves protected Snyder Arena taking down Central College 3-1 in a key volleyball matchup on Thursday night (Oct. 3).
After dropping the first set 20-25, the Prairie Wolves reeled off three straight wins in front of the home crowd 25-22, 25-21, 25-21. NWU moves to 10-4 overall and 2-0 in conference play with Central dropping to 13-6 and 1-2 in league action.
The Prairie Wolves came out flat in the opening set and hit only .038 as a team. NWU cut the lead down to 17-14, then Central scored four of the next five points to take control. Trailing 24-17, the Prairie Wolves did force Central into five match points before they finally sealed the win with a kill.
In set two the teams traded leads three times before the Prairie Wolves took control. With the score at 15-13 NWU went on a run scoring nine of the next eleven points to get to set point. Central would not go away scoring six straight points until
Whitney Jensen finally got a kill to secure the victory.
Set three was tied at 18-18 after several back and forth exchanges. Two Dutch errors, an ace by
Callie Kohl and kill from
Hannah Bellinghausen quickly gave the Prairie Wolves the four point advantage. They would maintain the lead the rest of the way.
NWU quickly jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the fourth set to leave no doubt they would end the match there. Central battled all the way back and tied it up four times before the Prairie Wolves scored five straight points, highlighted by back-to-back blocks from
Cassidy Plooster.
Nicole Gonzales sent the Prairie Wolves fans home happy as she pounded out the final kill of the night.
Three NWU players reached double figures in kills as they hit .179 as a team. Bellinghausen led the way with 16 kills and a .400 hitting percentage.
Cora Svoboda added 12 kills hitting .321 and Gonzales finished with 10.
Cassidy Plooster just missed a double-double with 40 assists and nine digs.
Kelsie Stovall led the Prairie Wolves with 29 digs in the match.
Central was led by Krissa Larson with 13 kills. The Dutch had 53 total kills, one more than the Prairie Wolves.
NWU is back in action on Saturday at Wartburg College.
