McLean County Times

Illinois Wesleyan University's women's volleyball team achieved a milestone by winning its second consecutive College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Regular Season Championship. The Titans secured the title after defeating Carroll University in four sets on Wednesday night, with set scores of 20-25, 25-22, 25-11, and 25-22. This victory improved Illinois Wesleyan's record to 21-2 overall and a perfect 7-0 in conference play. Carroll University fell to 15-13 overall and 3-4 in the CCIW.

Senior Taylor French reached a personal achievement during the match by breaking the program's all-time kills record. She recorded her 1,778th kill at the end of the third set, surpassing former record holder and current assistant coach Tyler White. Notably, both players broke the record against Carroll University.

The match featured several notable performances from Illinois Wesleyan players. Junior Eleanor Palmer contributed ten kills with a .563 hitting percentage and four total blocks. Sophomore Alex Bardouniotis matched French for a team-high thirteen kills, completed a double-double with fourteen digs, and tied for the team lead with four aces. Freshman Carly Whitaker and junior Cailin Shannon each finished with six kills without recording an error.

Freshman Lauren O'Brien registered a career-high twenty-nine assists along with four digs. Junior Sophia Feeney added sixteen assists, four aces, and seven digs. Senior Kannyn Boyd led the team defensively with seventeen digs.

Illinois Wesleyan outperformed Carroll in several statistical categories including kills (53 to 41), assists (49 to 37), and aces (10 to 9).

The Titans faced challenges early in the match as they made errors on their first three swings while Carroll built an early lead. Despite two timeouts from head coach Kim Nelson-Brown, Illinois Wesleyan trailed by eight points but managed to close the gap before dropping the first set.

In subsequent sets, key plays from Palmer, Bardouniotis, Whitaker, Boyd, Watts, Shannon, Feeney and others helped shift momentum in favor of Illinois Wesleyan. The third set was highlighted by French's record-breaking kill that gave her sole possession of the school's all-time kills mark.

Looking ahead, Illinois Wesleyan will host top-ranked non-conference opponents at Shirk Center: No. 3 University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Friday night followed by No. 5 Juniata College on Saturday.