McLean County Times

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team began College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play with a sweep (25-21, 25-14, 25-15) of Wheaton College on Wednesday night, Sept. 18, inside the Shirk Center. With the win, Illinois Wesleyan improved to 7-4 on the season and 1-0 in league play. On the flip side, Wheaton (8-3, 0-1 CCIW) saw its three-match win streak snapped.

The Titans overwhelmed the Thunder in nearly every facet statistically. IWU tallied 50 kills to Wheaton's 26, while the Green and White hit .417 as a team, the eighth-best clip in a match in program history. The Thunder finished with a .169 clip. The Titans controlled assists (46-22), aces (6-1), blocks (7-2), and digs (44-33).

Senior Abby Erdman (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley), who notched the 1000th assist of her career, shared setting duties with sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community). Erdman tallied 17 assists and four digs, while Feeney collected a match-high 24 assists to go along with two aces and five digs. The setting duo was fueled by an all-around attack. Junior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) racked up a match-leading 18 kills on a .615 hitting percentage, the seventh-best mark in a match in program history. Senior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East) added seven kills on a .500 clip. Freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) contributed nine kills, while junior Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) added eight.

French paced IWU's defense with nine digs and two blocks. Sophomore Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) led the squad with three rejections, while Tellor tacked on two. Freshman Alysa Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill.-IC Catholic Prep) and junior Kanyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) shared libero responsibilities, tallying eight and six digs respectively.

In the opening set, Bardouniotis broke a 9-9 tie with a kill and promptly followed with an ace to give IWU a two-point edge. French came through with a kill to extend the lead to three and bring about a Thunder timeout. IWU went on to extend the lead to as many as five as a Tellor tip put the Green and White in front at 19-14. Wheaton stormed back though forcing an IWU timeout with the lead trimmed to one at 20-19. Head Coach Kim Nelson-Brown's reset proved pivotal as Tellor got the Titans back on track before French and Jordan Pierce (Bonfield, Ill.-Herscher) kills pushed the score to set point at 24-21 in favor of the home team. After a quick timeout from Wheaton Palmer notched the set-winning kill.

Illinois Wesleyan's momentum carried into the second set where Feeney aced the Thunder for a 9-5 lead. French powered a kill to keep the Green and White rolling. Back-to-back stuffs involving Palmer first with Harrington and second with French stretched the lead to seven at 16-9. Tellor's kill gave IWU a double-digit advantage at 23-12 before an Erdman dump set and Feeney ace wrapped up the 25-14 win.

The Titans doubled up the Thunder at 8-4 in early goings of third set.French registered kill on set by Erdman giving Illinois Wesleyan four-point advantage as Erdman hit career assist mark.The Green White's lead stretched five Harrington-Tellor rejection before WC service error Bardouniotis tool upped lead six at13 -7.A hammer swing by French maintained six-point lead at16 -10 as Titans rolled victory complete sweep.

IWU travels Aurora University Saturday Sept21 take University Dubuque before facing Aurora triangular.Titans UD face off2:30 p.m.before concluding trip against AU5 p.m.

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