Doane Overpowers Prairie Wolves for 3-0 Sweep

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October 27, 2010

14th-ranked Doane College pounded out 56 kills and held 19th-ranked Nebraska Wesleyan to just 23 kills as the Tigers rolled past the Prairie Wolves, 3-0, in a matchup of nationally-ranked volleyball teams on Wednesday night (Oct. 27) at Snyder Arena in Lincoln.

Doane now extends their winning streak to 11 matches on the season, and defeats NWU for the 18th straight time dating back to 2001.

In a battle of two of the top three teams in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, the Tigers improve to 22-4 overall and 13-1 in the GPAC to remain in second place in the league standings, while NWU falls to 22-4 overall and 11-3 in the GPAC. Two of the three conference losses for the Prairie Wolves have come at the hands of Doane.

The largest home crowd of the season saw the Prairie Wolves fall behind 4-0 in the first set and they never recovered. Doane built up a 11-1 lead in set one and didn't look back as they got the 25-16 win.

Set two was more of the same as the Tigers got ahead 7-0 before NWU knew what hit them. NWU crawled back to get within seven again at 13-6, but that was as close as they would get in the 25-14 set two victory for Doane.

NWU showed passion in the third set as they got a 6-3 lead after a kill by Kelsey Elman. The Prairie Wolves maintained the lead and went up 12-9 after a kill by Hannah Behrens. Then with the score 15-13 in favor of NWU, Doane recovered after an apparent four-hit attack and the overpass landed free on the NWU side for a point to get Doane within one. An ace by Nicole Skolnick tied the match and the Tigers never looked back. Doane went on a 12-2 run to close the match and win set three 25-17.

NWU was held to a .095 hitting percentage during the match. Kelsey Elman had nine kills to pace the Prairie Wolves. Caitlin Anderson had 17 assists, eight digs and five kills for NWU.

Doane hit .336 in the match and had four players in double figures in kills. Ashley Axmann led the way with 15 kills, Terra Andreasen had 13 and Susan Rollman and Emily Max each had 12.

It does not get any easier for NWU as they host GPAC leader Northwestern College on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 27) in the final home match of the season. First serve is set for 3 p.m.