LINCOLN, Neb. - The Coe College volleyball team punched its ticket to the American Rivers Conference postseason tournament championship game for the third-straight season on Thursday evening, defeating second-seeded Nebraska Wesleyan 3-1 on the road. Coe began the match on fire, hitting .286 in the opening set while forcing nine NWU errors. The Kohawks were pushed to the limit in the second period, going back-and-forth with the Prairie Wolves before narrowly edging the hosts 27-25 to take a 2-0 lead. Nebraska Wesleyan expectantly answered in the third set, using a strong run late in the period to remain alive in the match. The fourth set featured similar drama to the second, with each team ripping off multi-point rallies. Coe hung tough despite a lead-changing four-point run in the dying moments of the set, answering with four of the final five points to claim another 27-25 win.
Madi Parson had a match-high 15 kills and led her team with 18 digs.
Grace Lueken and
Maggie Furlong also joined Parson in the double-double club, posting totals of 10 and 14 and 10 and 12 respectively.
Maddie Harris and
Lexi Hammer combined for seven of the team's 10 service aces, posting four and three in the win.
COE 3 - NEBRASKA WESLEYAN 1
GAME FACTS
- Nebraska Wesleyan jumped ahead quickly, taking a 7-3 advantage in the first period. Coe came to life and responded with a dominant run of its own, scoring 12 of the next 14 points to flip the score to 15-9. Coe continued to kept the pedal down, putting together numerous multi-point runs together en route to a 25-15 win in the opener. The teams went back for the whole of the second set, each trading short runs along the way. NWU scored three-straight points to make it 22-21 but Coe answered with six of the next nine points to secure a 2-0 advantage. The hosts used late-set magic of their own in the third to stay alive, outsourcing Coe 6-3 in the final few points to slice the deficit to one. It was more back-and-forth action in the fourth period with neither team holding a lead larger than three. Coe surrendered a four-point run with the score 23-20, allowing Nebraska Wesleyan to grab the momentum and a 24-23 lead. The third-seeded Kohawks remained strong and continued to push, getting a game-ending 4-1 run that featured kills from four different player.
Up next: Coe will face top-seeded Dubuque in the A-R-C title match with the league's AQ bid on the line. The Kohawks are in search of some revenge from earlier this season, dropping the regular season contest 3-1 in Dubuque.
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