Ryan Raycraft Assistant Women's Volleyball Coach | Illinois College Athletics Website
Ryan Raycraft Assistant Women's Volleyball Coach | Illinois College Athletics Website
The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team emerged victorious in a four-set match against Wheaton College during their College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) clash on Wednesday night, October 25. The Titans secured the win with set scores of 25-27, 25-22, 25-18, and 25-22. This victory brings the Titans to an overall record of 12-12 and a conference record of 5-3. Meanwhile, Wheaton's record stands at 9-11 overall and 1-6 in league play.
The Titans recorded a total of 54 kills with a .216 attack percentage, while Wheaton managed 48 kills on a .189 clip. IWU also held advantages in aces with 13 compared to Wheaton's seven, assists at 49 over Wheaton's 44, and digs with a slight edge at 63 to Wheaton's 61. However, the Thunder outperformed the Titans in blocks, notching six to IWU's four.
Sophomore Taylor French from Romeoville led the Titans with a match-high of 24 kills on a .246 attack percentage. Seniors Lily Summers and Taylor Babec contributed eight kills each, while freshman Eleanor Palmer added six. Senior Annika Altekruse provided five kills off the bench with an impressive .714 clip.
Senior Jordan Pierce orchestrated IWU's offense with a total of 32 assists. Summers achieved her career-best performance by recording four aces for the team. Freshman Olivia deGuzman led defensively with a career-high of 16 digs.
After losing the first set, IWU regrouped in the second set despite trailing initially. Head coach Kim Nelson-Brown called for strategic timeouts that proved pivotal as the team went on significant runs that eventually won them the set.
The third set saw intense competition until French sparked another run that helped secure an advantage for IWU leading to another set win.
In the fourth set, after some back-and-forth scoring, key plays from players like Summers and Palmer helped secure the final victory for IWU.
Looking ahead, Illinois Wesleyan will host their own tournament—the Illinois Wesleyan Classic II—on Friday and Saturday (October 27-28). They are scheduled to face off against the University of Chicago on Friday evening followed by a match against University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Saturday afternoon.
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