2018 NCAA Division III Volleyball Bracket

U. of Chicago Regional Website

Illinois Wesleyan Postgame Press Conference

CHICAGO, Ill. -- The No. 11-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University volleyball team has advanced deeper into the NCAA Division III tournament than any in school history after a four-set win over Washington U.-St. Louis in the Regional Semifinal at the University of Chicago's Ratner Center on Saturday, Nov. 10.

Winners of 22 straight matches, the Titans won by scores of 26-24, 25-21, 18-25, 26-24 to improve to 27-5 this season. The No. 13-ranked Bears' season ends with an 26-8 mark.

Illinois Wesleyan will play Aurora University (25-8) at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11, with the winning team advancing to the final eight at the A.J. Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Nov. 15-17. The Spartans ousted the University of Chicago (29-5) in five sets by scores of 18-25, 25-17, 23-25, 30-28, 15-10.

Senior Tyler Brown led the Titans with 21 digs and 18 kills for her 27th double-double of the season and freshman Bev Ryan made a career-high 17 kills, topping her previous high of nine she made against Carthage in the conference tournament final last Saturday.

Senior Rachel Burkman had her 17th double-double of the year with 12 kills and 16 digs to go with three blocks against the Bears and senior Maddie Williams led IWU with six total blocks.

Freshman Madi Corey had a team-high 27 assists and senior Leah Seielstad provided 24. Freshman Amber Juarez 19 digs, four assists and two service aces.

IWU hit .190 in the match with 62 kills in 163 attempts with 31 errors while WashU had a .182 hitting mark with 47 kills and 20 errors in 148 swings. Leila King had 11 kills and five blocks to lead the Bears.

QUOTES: Head coach Kim Nelson-Brown on WEXG Radio said, "WashU is such a fantastic team with great athleticism ... I think offensively we got our timing down on their blocks and did great job of slowing the ball down ... Both Chicago and Aurora are different teams than last time we faced each other earlier in the year ... I think Aurora is similar to us in size and ability, while Chicago is big and does a great job of distributing the ball."

NOTES: Illinois Wesleyan now has a 4-5 record in NCAA tournaments ... This is IWU's second straight and sixth all time making its second straight and sixth all-time NCAA tournament appearance with others coming in 2017, 2015, 1998, 1997, and 1991 ... Illinois Wesleyan defeated Aurora, 3-0, (25-17, 25-19, 25-23) on Sept. 7 at the Shirk Center. IWU has a 13-3 series record against the Spartans ...