LINCOLN, Neb. – It took five sets but in the end the Nebraska Wesleyan volleyball team was able to celebrate on their home court as the No. 4 seeded Prairie Wolves held on to defeat No. 5 seed Coe College 3-2 in the First Round of the American Rivers Conference Volleyball Tournament.
 
NWU advances to the tournament semifinals where they will face No. 1 seed Wartburg College on Thursday night (Nov. 7) in Waverly, Iowa.
 
The Prairie Wolves easily won the first two sets 25-11, 25-15 and looked to be their way to quick sweep.  Coe had other plans and picked up their playing level and controlled the next two sets winning 25-21, 25-21 to force a deciding fifth set.
 
In the fifth set, the two teams went back and forth like a postseason deciding set should be played out.  The set was tied nine times and the lead changed four times as neither team could get ahead by more than one point through the first 19 points.
 
Finally, with NWU leading 10-9, an attack error by the Kohawks made it 11-9 in favor of the home team.  On the next play, NWU's Callie Kohl dug up a Coe attack in the back row and the ball sailed over the net hitting a Kohawks player giving the point to the Prairie Wolves for a 12-9 advantage.  NWU made it 13-9 on a block at the net from Nyah Chambers and Whitney Jensen.
 
A service error stopped the 5-0 run by the Prairie Wolves.  Hannah Bellinghausen stepped up and slammed home a kill to set up match point.  On match point, Whitney Jensen closed the match in proper fashion with a service ace to start the celebration by the home crowd.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan dominated on the stat sheet in the first two sets hitting .357 in set two alone, while Coe had a negative hitting percentage combined during the opening two sets.  The next two sets were more in favor of the Kohawks as they pounded out 15 and 13 kills.
 
For the match, the Prairie Wolves had 53 kills and hit .184, compared to 47 kills and a .040 percentage by Coe.
 
Two NWU players reached double figures in kills, led by Bellinghausen with 16 kills hitting .240.  Ana Thacker came off the bench to be very effective with 11 kills in 18 attempts to hit .500.  Both Cassidy Plooster and Anna Gottsch had double-doubles for the Prairie Wolves.  Plooster dished out 22 assists with 14 digs and Gottsch had 23 assists and 10 digs.  Kelsie Stovall led the team with 30 digs.
 
Coe's Madi Parson finished with 16 kills and Kate Tidman had 15 to lead the Kohawks.
 
NWU's victory on Tuesday was their first postseason conference tournament victory since they joined the new league four years ago. 
 
They now prepare for top-seeded Wartburg College, a team that swept the Prairie Wolves on Oct. 5.