2017 NCAA Division III Regional Web Site
Illinois Wesleyan Postgame Press Conference (IWU portion starts at 23:00)

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Illinois Wesleyan 2017 volleyball campaign came to an end in the second round of the NCAA Division III Regional with a five-set loss to Carthage before a crowd of more than 1,000 at the Shirk Center on Friday, Nov. 10.

The Titans lost by scores of 25-19, 20-25, 25-19, 18-25, 8-15 and had their season end with a 23-8 record. Three of those losses came to Carthage, who won for the 12th straight time and advances with a 27-8 record to play defending national champion Calvin College in the regional final at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Shirk Center.

Winners of 20 straight matches, Calvin improved to 28-3 with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-17) win over Millikin.

Illinois Wesleyan junior Tyler Brown had a team-high 17 kills and added 20 digs while senior Kyleigh Block turned in nine kills and a team-high 25 digs with two service aces. Junior Rachel Burkman hit .150 with 10 kills and had 22 digs and two service aces.

Junior Maddie Williams hit .389 with eight kills in 18 attacks with one error and had a team-leading three total blocks. Freshman Caitlin Meyer provided 26 set assists and sophomore Kira Jackson contributed 25.

Statistically, the match was close - Illinois Wesleyan hit .167 (57 kills in 204 attempts with 23 errors) while Carthage hit .168 (63 kills in 220 attempts with 26 errors). The Lady Reds had 116 digs compared to 107 for IWU. In the decisive fifth set, Carthage had a .440 hitting percentage with 13 kills while the Titans managed only four kills with a .111 hitting mark.

Shannon Kebisek led Carthage with 15 kills while Megan Behrendt had 27 digs and 12 kills and Katie Laio had a match-best five blocks. Ellie LeCount assisted on 53 kills.

In going 1-1 in its first-ever NCAA tournament games at home, Illinois Wesleyan is 2-5 in NCAA postseason play, making its fifth overall appearance (others were in 1991, 1997, 1998 and 2015). In a bit of déjà vu, the last time IWU was ousted from the NCAA in 2015, it was at the hands of Carthage in five sets (25-27, 25-21, 13-25, 25-23, 7-15).