LINCOLN, Neb. (September 29, 2021) - The Buena Vista University volleyball team overcame a 2-1 deficit on Wednesday night on the road at Nebraska Wesleyan, but the Beavers rolled back to win a pair of thrilling sets down the stretch to leave Snyder Arena with a 3-2 American Rivers Conference victory over the Prairie Wolves.

All five sets proved to be nail-biters, beginning with a narrow 25-20 triumph by the Beavers in the opening set.  Nebraska Wesleyan rallied back to tie the match with a 25-23 victory in the second before going in front with a 25-22 win in the third.  The Beavers, behind a match-high 16 kills in the fourth were able to hang on for a 25-23 win of its own to pull even before rolling off the final two points to secure its first league victory of the year.

Senior Sydney McLaren led all players with 23 kills in the match and posted a stellar .354 attack percentage.  Hannah Smith and Rachel Brockney each followed with nine kills apiece, as Brockney was right behind McLaren with a strong .350 attack percentage.  McLaren notched her eighth double-double of the year by also finishing with 16 digs while adding three ace serves.  Junior Taylor Wedemeyer dished out 42 assists and tallied 13 digs and thre ace serves while senior Jade Hays chalked up a team-leading 19 digs.

Addie Thomas led NWU with 21 kills but also had 13 attack errors.  The Praire Wolves drop to 8-4 overall (0-2 A-R-C).

"Tonight was a great team win," said BVU head coach Rosie Aumann.  "We overcame adversity, pushed through and had some fun!  I'm very proud of these ladies and we're all looking forward to a couple home matches next week."

Buena Vista improves to 7-6 overall (1-2 A-R-C) and will get set to play a trio of home matches next week.  The first of those is a non-conference slate against Bethany Lutheran on Tuesday (October 5) at 7:00 p.m. before the Beavers move back into A-R-C play by hosting Coe College on Friday (October 8) at 5:30 p.m. and then Luther College on Saturday (October 6) at 3:30 p.m.