LINCOLN, Neb. – Proving that they are never really out of a set, the Whitworth Pirates remained undefeated in 2026 with a pair of wins on the opening day of the P-Wolf Invitational volleyball tournament hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Whitworth defeated Gordon College 3-0 and the host Prairie Wolves 3-1 to improve to 5-0 this season. The Pirates will complete the tournament with matches against St. Scholastica and St. Olaf, both members of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference, on Saturday morning.
Whitworth 3, Gordon 0
The Pirates trailed for most of the first two sets before pulling out late comebacks, then ran away with the third set in a 25-21, 25-23, 25-14 win over the Scots, who dropped to 2-3.
Gordon took a 16-10 lead in the opening set before Whitworth rallied to within 19-18 on a kill from Lauren Kremer. Trailing 20-18, the Bucs closed on a 7-1 run, getting consecutive service aces from Bryanna Dodson late in the game.
The Bucs trailed most of the way through the second set as well. The Scots led 22-20 before Whitworth closed on a 5-1 run, getting a pair of kills from Lindsey Short.
Whitworth led from the start of the final set after jumping to a 5-1 lead against a deflated Gordon squad.
Short had 12 kills and hit .409 to lead the offensive attack. Dodson finished with eight kills and two aces. Madison Pridon dished 39 assists as the Pirates hit .257 as a team.
Haley Hutzler led the Scots with ten kills.
Whitworth 3, Nebraska Wesleyan 1
The Pirates bounced back from losing the first set and then scored the final six points of the match to put it away in four. Whitworth defeated NWU 20-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-23.
The Pirates led 15-12 midway through the first set when the Prairie Wolves (3-2) used a 6-1 run to go ahead 18-16. They led the rest of the way.
The second game was tied 18-18 when Whitworth closed on a 7-1 scoring spurt. Kaylee Winterroth had a pair of kills in the closing rally.
Whitworth took control earlier in the third set, turning an 8-7 deficit into a 17-9 lead with a 10-1 run. Pridon served three straight aces at the end of the run and Dodson closed out the set with a kill.
The match appeared headed to a fifth set when NWU went up 23-19 in the fourth after a Pirate attack error. The Bucs scored six straight points to put the match to bed, taking advantage of three straight attack errors from the Prairie Wolves.
Whitworth served 12 aces in the match, including five by Pridon. Alyssa Baird dominated at the net with 20 kills, her career-high for a four-set contest. She only had two errors and hit .450 in the contest. Winterroth had seven kills without an error and added three blocks.
Molly Ramirez had 18 kills and two aces for NWU.
