BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team will make the 169-mile drive south to St. Louis as the team will participate in the WashU Invite Saturday, Oct. 9. The Green and White will tangle with No. 9 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at 10:30 a.m., followed by No. 23 Washington University in St. Louis at 1 p.m. 

After IWU's four-set victory against North Central College Wednesday, Oct. 6, the teams overall record stands at 10-9 (4-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin). UWW enters the weekend with a 15-1 record, while WashU checks in at 10-5 on the year.

Head coach Kim Nelson-Brown has the opportunity to reach the 500-win mark in her illustrious Illinois Wesleyan head coaching career as she is sitting on 498 career wins ahead of this weekend's matches. She currently ranks 32nd on the Division III wins list among active head coaches. 

The Titans are currently riding a three-match win streak which has seen balanced contributions from numerous athletes. 

Senior Madi Corey (Frankfort, Ill. - Lincoln-Way East) is coming off an impressive triple-double in the teams last match against North Central that featured 12 kills, 30 assists, and 19 digs.

Fresh off of her first-ever CCIW Player of the Week honor, senior Courtney McAuliffe (Lemont, Ill. - Lemont) leads Illinois Wesleyan with 193 kills and 75 blocks. McAuliffe has produced a cumulative hitting percentage north of .300 with a .318 clip.

Senior Jessica McCall (Wayne, Ill. - Wheaton St. Francis) is second on the team with 120 kills. Junior Evy Makris (Orland Park, Ill. - Sandburg) has produced 116, which is good for third on the team. Junior Grace Sanders (Bloomington, Ill - Bloomington) is fourth on the team as she has notched 108 kills. Sophomore Maddie Dryfhout (Orland Park, Ill. - Chicago Christian) rounds out the top five with 86 kills. 

Senior Amber Juarez (Bloomington, Ill. - Normal U High) has produced the most digs on the team with 191. Sanders and McCall have accumulated 190 and 153 digs, respectively. Sophomore Faith Washko (Springfield, Ill. - Sacred Heart-Griffin) is continuing to enjoy her second half surge that has propelled her to 150 digs for the season, while Corey has 146 digs.

The setting duo that features Corey and freshman Ava Porada (Frankfort, Ill. - Lincoln-Way East) have accounted for 706 total assists for the year. Corey has 376 assists to go along with her team leading 26 service aces. Porada has 330 assists and 25 service aces for the year. 

Despite UWW's 19-2 lead in the all-time series with IWU, the Titans have claimed two of the previous three matchups. The team's two victories came Oct. 21, 2017 and Sept. 8, 2018. The Warhawks won the last match between these two teams in four sets Oct. 12, 2019.

In the series with the Bears, the Titans trail 3-13. In the previous five meetings, the Green and White have defeated the Bears on three occasions. From Sept. 18, 1998 to Sept. 24, 2015, the Bears rattled off 11 straight wins over the Titans. In the most recent dual, WashU defeated Illinois Wesleyan in four sets Sept. 4, 2019. IWU's last win over WashU came in the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament, Nov. 10, 2018, where the Titans avenged a regular season loss with a four-set postseason victory over the Bears.  

The Green and White's first match against Wisconsin-Whitewater will only have live stats which can be found by clicking here. IWU's second match against WashU will have live video and live stats. Live video can be found by clicking here. Live stats can be found by clicking here.