WAVERLY, Iowa – Nebraska Wesleyan's postseason run and winning streak came to an end, as did their 2019 season on Thursday night (Nov. 7) as top-seeded Wartburg College defeated the 4^th-seeded Prairie Wolves 3-1 in the American Rivers Conference Volleyball Tournament semifinals in Waverly, Iowa.
 
NWU battled the conference regular season champion to the wire coming away with a 25-23 win in the third set, but in the end it was the Knights that extended their winning streak and advanced to the tournament championship.  Wartburg won the first two sets 25-19, 25-20 and bounced back after NWU's third set win to take the fourth set 25-19.
 
Both teams entered the semifinal matchup on long winning streaks with NWU having won ten in a row and Wartburg nine.  The Knights, who swept the Prairie Wolves earlier in the season, keep their streak alive and now host No. 3 seed University of Dubuque who upset No. 2 seed Loras College in five sets.
 
The Prairie Wolves finish their season with a 20-8 overall record, the most wins since the 2014 team that advanced to the NCAA III Tournament.
 
To start the match, NWU hung tough in the opening set with the lead changing four times and tied five times.  The last tie was at 13-13 then Wartburg went on a 5-0 run and never looked back to take the first set.
 
NWU led 12-11 in the second set, but that would be their last lead of the set.  The Knights scored three straight points to take the lead and NWU was never able to get even again.  They were as close as 21-20 then the Knights closed the set.
 
In set three, the Prairie Wolves got way ahead early leading 9-3 before the Knights slowly got closer.  NWU still had a four-point advantage at 20-16 until the Knights made another late push.  They tied it up at 23-23 but the Prairie Wolves scored the next two points to force a fourth set.
 
Set five was tied seven different times and the lead changed twice. NWU and Wartburg were tied at 18-18 when Wartburg turned on the jets scoring four straight points to get a lead that was too much to overcome.
 
Wartburg finished the match with 57 total kills hitting .177, compared to 46 kills and a .099 percentage by the Prairie Wolves.  Zaiah Quirk led Wartburg with 13 kills.
 
Playing in her final career match, Hannah Bellinghausen led the Prairie Wolves with 14 kills on the night.  Bellinghausen hit .235 with only two errors as the only NWU player to reach double figures in kills.  Nicole Gonzales ended with eight kills and Whitney Jensen had seven.
 
Cassidy Plooster had a team-high 20 assists and Kelsie Stovall led the team with 27 digs.