GRINNELL, Iowa – Nebraska Wesleyan dropped a pair of matches on Saturday (Sept. 21) at the Grinnell College Volleyball Triangular in Grinnell, Iowa. The Prairie Wolves were swept 3-0 by the University of Wisconsin-River Falls then fell in a 3-2 heartbreaker to the host school, Grinnell.
Against UW-River Falls, NWU dropped the three set match in scores of 25-16, 25-22, 25-20. River Falls finished the match with 55 total kills hitting .326 as a team in a very impressive performance. NWU managed only 38 kills with a .218 swing percentage.
Whitney Jensen was the lone NWU player to reach double figures in kills with 12.
Cassidy Plooster dished out 21 assists and just missed a double-double with nine digs.
Kelsie Stovall led the Prairie Wolves with 16 digs.
Playing against the host school in the final match of the day, the Prairie Wolves and Pioneers went back and forth in the five-set thriller. Grinnell won the opening set 25-16, then NWU bounced back to win the next two sets in scores of 25-23, 27-25. Set four was controlled by the Pioneers 25-15 forcing a fifth set. Grinnell finally came away with the 18-16 win to move to 11-2 on the year, while NWU dropped to 7-4.
Hannah Bellinghausen finished with 17 kills in the loss to lead the Prairie Wolves.
Cora Svoboda added 11 kills with two blocks. Plooster posted a double-double with 26 assists and 13 digs, while Stovall had 25 digs.
At the conclusion of the triangular,
Whitney Jensen was named to the All-Tournament team.
