McLean County Times

Senior Taylor French of the Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team has been named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III National Player of the Week for the third time in her career. The announcement was made by the AVCA on Tuesday, November 4.

This recognition makes French the most decorated Titan in terms of national weekly awards, surpassing assistant coach Tyler White, who previously received the honor twice. French is also the second Illinois Wesleyan player to earn this accolade during the current season, following Kannyn Boyd’s selection on September 2. She is noted as the first player in AVCA history to receive back-to-back national weekly awards, with previous honors awarded on October 31 and November 7, 2023. Illinois Wesleyan becomes the first team this season to have two players receive weekly honors from AVCA and is the first since UW-Whitewater achieved this during September 2024.

French led her team to a perfect week with three wins, including two against top-five ranked opponents. These victories secured Illinois Wesleyan’s outright College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Regular Season Championship—the program's first instance of consecutive championships.

During that week, French recorded a total of 51 kills with an average of 4.64 per set. On Wednesday night, October 29, she became Illinois Wesleyan’s all-time leader in kills by surpassing assistant coach Tyler White with her 1,778th kill. In addition to her offensive output, she tallied 35 digs (3.18 per set), seven aces (0.64 per set), four blocks, and one assist.

Her record-breaking performance came during a four-set win over Carroll University where she posted a double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs along with two blocks and an ace. Against No. 3 University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Friday night, October 31 at Shirk Center, French registered 17 kills at a .452 attack percentage—committing only three errors on 31 attempts—alongside 15 digs, three aces, and two blocks as IWU completed a sweep. She concluded her week by scoring 21 kills in a four-set victory over No.5 Juniata College on Saturday, November 1; she also added seven digs, three aces and one assist as IWU defeated the reigning national champions.

For these performances over the weekend, French was named to the IWU Tournament III All-Tournament Team.

Illinois Wesleyan will host Augustana College for its regular season finale at Shirk Center on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

"French led the Illinois Wesleyan offense to an impressive 3-0 week...as IWU clinched the CCIW Regular Season Championship outright," according to Tuesday's release from AVCA.