BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- In NCAA Division III Regional play, the Illinois Wesleyan volleyball team took advantage of home court and downed the University of Chicago in straight sets by scores of 25-15, 25-14, 25-19 at the Shirk Center on Thursday, Nov. 9.

The 23-7 Titans advance in the regional to meet College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin opponent Carthage (26-8) at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Lady Reds were 3-1 winners (25-23, 25-16, 14-25, 25-20) over Concordia Wisconsin on Friday.

The other regional semifinal will pit defending national champion Calvin College (27-3) against Millikin University (29-7) at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

In other games on the opening day, Calvin rallied to defeat Washington U., 3-2 (25-16, 25-15, 20-25, 23-25, 16-14) and Millikin won handily over Greenville, 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 25-9).

The Lady Reds have defeated Illinois Wesleyan twice in 2017, once during the regular CCIW campaign (3-1 on Oct. 13, 22-25, 24-26, 25-17, 17-25) and again in the CCIW tournament a week ago (3-0 on Nov. 3, 23-25, 28-30, 21-25). Carthage has a 29-26 lead in the overall series against Illinois Wesleyan

In the NCAA regional-opening win over Chicago, the Titans hit .294 in the match with 50 kills and just 13 errors in 126 attacks while the Maroons hit .094 in the three sets with 28 kills in 128 attempts with 16 errors. In set two, Chicago had six kills and six errors in 41 attempts for a .000 hitting mark.

Junior Tyler Brown led Illinois Wesleyan with 17 kills and 21 digs while senior Kyleigh Block added nine kills and had 17 digs. Junior Rachel Burkman had 10 kills, 10 digs and two service aces.

Junior Maddie Williams had a team-high six blocks and junior Heidi Dague added five with Burkman making four. Sophomore Kira Jackson (23) and Caitlin Meyer (20) led the Titans in set assists.

The Maroons got 12 kills from Sarah Muisenga and 18 digs out of Anne Marie Stifter. Emma Griffith had 25 of the 27 team assists.

In its first-ever NCAA tournament game at home, Illinois Wesleyan improved to 2-4 in NCAA postseason play, making its fifth overall appearance (others were in 1991, 1997, 1998 and 2015).