The Monmouth College volleyball team dropped a pair of four-set matches on Friday at the Central College Invite in Pella, Iowa. The Scots (11-14) lost to Nebraska Wesleyan in the first match and the hosts from Central in the nightcap. 

In the first match, the teams played a wild first set with nine ties and four lead changes. Neither team led by more than three for the first 43 points. Monmouth led 17-16 before NWU went on a 6-2 run to lead 22-19. The Scots won the next point but the Prairie Wolves finished with three straight to take the set 25-20. 

Nebraska Wesleyan jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the second set and kept the lead until the Scots caught up at 23 on a kill by Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa). Monmouth took the lead at 24-23 but NWU tied it up. Wright got a kill for a set point and Sarah LaHood (East Peoria, Illinois) finished off the set at 26-24. 

The Scots jumped out to an early lead in the third set with a 4-1 advantage. The Prairie Wolves won the next four points and pushed their lead to 13-6. The lead eventually went to double digits at 20-10 and they stayed up by 10 to win the set 25-15. 

The fourth set had six ties and three lead changes. Monmouth led 2-0 and the set was tied at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6 and 7-7. The PWolves pushed the lad to 10-7 and then 16-10 with a couple mini-runs. Monmouth closed the gap to three at 20-17 but then the teams traded points the rest of the way with NWU winning 25-22. 

Amanda Dybal (Apex, North Carolina) led the team with 12 kills while Delaney Scheidenhelm (New Berlin, Illinois) and Wright both had 10. Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, Illinois) had 36 assists on Monmouth's 41 kills and LaHood led the team with two aces. Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois) led the Scots with 21 digs and Dybal had a team-leading four blocks. 

In the nightcap, Central led throughout the first set with a 25-14 win and there was only one lead change as the Dutch won the second set 25-19. Monmouth fought back in the third set to force 11 ties and two lead changes. The Scots won the race to 20 and had a set point at 24-23 before eventually winning the set 26-24. 

The Scots won the race to 20 in the fourth set as well and pushed the lead to 21-17. But Central won four points in a row to tie the set. Monmouth got a kill from Dybal to go up 22-21 before Central won three straight points and eventually closed out the match 25-23. 

Wright led Monmouth with 11 kills against Central while Dybal and LaHood both had nine. Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) had 22 assists while Bergschneider had 15. Wright had three aces and Robinson led the Scots with 21 digs. 

Bergchneider went over 900 career assists in the NWU match and enters Saturday's season finale with 938 in her first two seasons. The Scots will finish the season at 11 a.m. Saturday against Luther College.