McLean County Times

After a series of non-conference matches, the Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team will resume College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play with an away match at Millikin University on Friday, October 24. The Titans, currently ranked sixth nationally and holding a 19-2 overall record (5-0 CCIW), will face Millikin at the Griswold Center starting at 7 p.m.

Illinois Wesleyan comes into the match following a sweep against No. 13 Washington University in St. Louis on Tuesday, October 21. The Titans recorded 13 service aces during the match, with senior Taylor French tying her career high with seven aces and senior Hannah Tellor adding four more. Four players finished with at least six kills each, as the team posted a .286 hitting percentage overall and .444 in the final set. French and sophomore Alex Bardouniotis led with 10 kills apiece; junior Eleanor Palmer contributed seven kills on a .600 hitting percentage, while freshman Carly Whitaker added six kills on a .500 clip.

French leads Illinois Wesleyan in kills this season with 286, averaging nearly four per set—a figure that tops the conference and ranks 34th nationally. She is now just 22 kills away from becoming the program’s all-time leader, surpassing assistant coach Tyler White's mark of 1,777 career kills set between 2015 and 2018. Bardouniotis is second on the team with 210 kills (2.92 per set), followed by Tellor’s 145 kills (just over two per set) on a .301 attack percentage.

The Titans’ offense leads the CCIW in kills per set and ranks seventh nationally with an average of nearly fourteen per set. French also leads in service aces with 58—14th most in Division III—and averages more than three-quarters of an ace per set (12th nationally). Freshman Lauren O'Brien has contributed forty aces, while Bardouniotis has thirty-six.

Illinois Wesleyan averages over twelve assists per set—the highest mark in their league and eleventh-best nationwide—with O’Brien and junior Sophia Feeney handling most of the setting duties. Feeney leads with over four hundred assists (5.65 per set), closely followed by O'Brien’s total of three hundred seventy-two assists (5.17 per set).

On defense, senior Kannyn Boyd heads up the back row with over three hundred digs (4.59 per set). Bardouniotis is next with two hundred thirty-three digs; French has two hundred fifteen. Tellor leads blocking efforts for IWU with forty-nine total blocks including six solo stops; Palmer follows closely behind and Whitaker rounds out the top three blockers.

Since first meeting in 1994, Millikin holds a narrow lead over Illinois Wesleyan in their all-time series at thirty wins to twenty-nine. Last year, IWU won both meetings—including a five-set victory over then-No.10 Millikin to claim the CCIW Tournament Championship and secure an NCAA Tournament berth.

“Tellor crushed seventeen kills on a .392 clip to power the offense, while Palmer totaled seven blocks to lead the net defense,” according to previous matchup statistics provided by Illinois Wesleyan University Athletics Communications staff.

Millikin recently improved its record to eleven wins and ten losses after defeating North Park University on Wednesday night to move to four wins and one loss within CCIW play.

Live streaming coverage of Friday’s match will be available through Millikin's website, along with live stats for those wishing to follow online.