BELTON, Texas -- The Illinois Wesleyan opened its volleyball season with two wins in th eUniversity of Mary Hardin Baylor Tournament in Belton, Texas, on Friday, Sept. 4.
 
Illinois Wesleyan defeated Hardin-Simmons 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19) and rallied to win the last two sets in a 3-2 win over East Texas Baptist (26-24, 14-25, 20-25, 25-13, 18-16) to go to 2-0 for the first time since the 2006 season.
 
Against Hardin-Simmons, freshman Tyler Brown led the way with 16 kills while sophomore Kyleigh Block had 11 and freshman Rachel Burkman added 10.
 
Block and senior Mary Rankin each had 10 defensive digs while freshman Leah Seielstad had 27 set assists and junior Colleen Rynne provided 20.
 
Freshman Heidi Dague had three blocks to pace the Titans.
 
Against East Texas Baptist, Block had a team-high 15 kills while Burkman and Brown each had 14. Sophomore Maisy Bowden added 10 kills with three blocks.
 
Rynne had 28 assists and Seielstad had 26 while Rankin led the team with 20 digs and Brown and Seielstad had 11 apiece.
 
"In the last two sets of the last match, our team played extremely well," said IWU head coach Kim Nelson-Brown. "We fought for control and played some incredible defense which allowed us some great swings."
 
On Saturday IWU will face Southwestern University at 12:30 p.m. and University of Texas at Dallas at 2:30 p.m.