LINCOLN, Neb. (Oct. 20, 2026) - The Buena Vista volleyball team had a rematch of its American Rivers Conference opener on Tuesday night at Nebraska Wesleyan, but it was the Prairie Wolves who rallied late in each of the first two sets to take both by identical 27-25 scores before completing the sweep of the non-conference match with a 25-14 victory in the third.
BVU faced set point in the opening set at 25-24 before a service error by the Beavers followed by an attack error gave NWU a 26-25 lead. The Prairie Wolves then got their 17th kills of the opening stanza to finish the comeback at 27-25. Much like the first meeting, neither team was able to build more than a three-point cushion at any point of the set. BVU managed to overcome a 20-17 deficit late to take a 21-20 lead and then it was back-and-forth down the stretch.
The Beavers appeared to be in control late in the second set looking to even the match with an 20-13 advantage after a kill from senior
Hope Vanderlinden. The Prairie Wolves just wouldn't go away, using an 8-2 spurt to get within 22-21. A service error by NWU made it a 23-21 lead for BVU, but the Prairie Wolves got a kill and then an ace to tie things up. NWU then went in front 24-23 on an attack error by the Beavers but BVU was able to keep the set alive after an error by the home team made it 24-24. Each team traded kills to make it 25-25 before a pair of bad sets by BVU gave the Prairie Wolves a second straight 27-25 victory.
It seemed to be all Prairie Wolves (13-8) in the third set as BVU struggled to get into a rhythm and had a match-high 10 attack errors in the set while NWU had only 10 errors for the match. Nebraska Wesleyan jumped out to a 5-1 lead and slowly pushed its way to a 17-8 cushion. The Beavers never threatened from there and dropped the set 25-14.
Sophomore
Charley Hernandez led Buena Vista with 12 kills and just four errors to post an attack percentage of .286. She also chipped in defensively with six digs and three blocks. Freshman
Nora Konz added 10 kills but also had 10 errors. She tallied nine digs on the defensive side. Fellow freshman
Kaylee Wray turned in a team-leading 17 digs. Juniors
Merced Ramirez and Anabel Seaman dished out 16 and 14 assists, respectively, and combined for nine digs.
Buena Vista is now 17-2 on the year and looks to get back in the win column on Friday, Oct. 23, as it travels to Carleton College (13-8) for a non-conference battle that starts at 6 p.m.
