McLean County Times

The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team will begin its College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) schedule with a match against Wheaton College on Wednesday, September 17. The game is set to start at 7 p.m. at King Arena.

Illinois Wesleyan, ranked No. 14 nationally, enters conference play as the reigning CCIW Regular Season and Tournament Champions. The Titans have started their season with a perfect 7-0 record, marking the best opening in program history. In their most recent match, they swept DePauw University for their sixth consecutive sweep. Sophomore Alex Bardouniotis led the offense with 11 kills, while junior Sophia Feeney contributed a team-high 19 assists. Senior Taylor French and freshman Lauren O'Brien each recorded two aces, sharing the team lead in that category during the match. Bardouniotis also led the defense with 14 digs for a double-double performance, while French and senior Hannah Tellor each registered three blocks.

French and Bardouniotis have been key contributors to IWU’s offense this season. French leads the team with 87 kills (3.78 per set) and holds a .236 attack percentage. She ranks third in program history for career kills (1,557), trailing the all-time record by 220 kills. French is also third all-time in points scored for IWU (1,842.5), needing another 113 points to become the program leader. Bardouniotis follows with 68 kills (2.96 per set). Tellor rounds out the top three hitters with 45 kills at an average of 1.96 per set on a .313 hitting percentage.

Feeney and O'Brien continue to share setting responsibilities this year; Feeney has tallied a team-high 123 assists (5.35 per set), closely followed by O'Brien’s 122 assists (5.30 per set). O'Brien leads IWU in service aces this season with 15; French is second with 14 career aces—her total of 223 is third-most all-time for IWU—and Bardouniotis has added another dozen aces so far.

Defensively, senior Kannyn Boyd leads IWU in digs with an average of 4.58 per set from her total of 87 digs this season; Bardouniotis has made significant contributions defensively as well, collecting 82 digs (3.57 per set). Tellor holds the team lead in blocks at the net with eighteen.

Illinois Wesleyan holds an all-time record of thirty-three wins and eleven losses against Wheaton College since their first meeting in nineteen ninety-four; they have won seven out of their last eight encounters against Wheaton—including sweeping them inside Shirk Center last September when French had eighteen kills on a .615 attack percentage and Feeney delivered twenty-four assists.

Wheaton College comes into Wednesday's contest after defeating Concordia University-Chicago to close out its participation at the Marilyn Scribner Invitational.

A live stream of Wednesday's match will be available through Wheaton College's website along with live statistics updates.