BRUNSWICK, Maine - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team kicked off its fall break trip with a wild five-set victory at Bowdoin College Friday evening, Oct. 20. The Titans (9-12) took the first two sets with relative ease 25-14 and 25-18, but the Polar Bears (8-7) clawed back with 25-19 and 25-21 set victories to force a decisive fifth set, where IWU outlasted BC, 24-22. The final set marked the most IWU has scored in a fifth set in program history.

A pair of career-highs from senior Lily Summers (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield North) and sophomore Raegan Watts (Forsyth, Ill.-Maroa Forsyth) powered the Titans to victory. Summers finished with a career-best 14 kills on a .206 clip with seven digs, while Watts put up a match-high 34 digs.

Sophomore Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) torched the Polar Bears for 26 kills, one off her career-high, on a .225 attacking percentage. She completed a double-double with 20 digs. Senior Jordan Pierce (Bonfield, Ill.-Herscher) tied her career-high with 44 assists as she orchestrated an IWU attack that hit .194 as a team. Pierce also notched 13 digs.

Junior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East) rounded out the double-digit kill performances with 11 on a .226 clip, while senior Taylor Babec (Joliet, Ill.-Plainfield Central) and freshman Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) tallied six apiece. 

A balanced and nearly unstoppable attack fueled the Titans in the opening set. Harrington smashed an over-pass for a kill to put the Green and White up 7-3, before freshman Sophia Feeney's (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) ace and Pierce's kill forced a Bowdoin timeout. Powered by three kills apiece by Summers and Harrington, IWU claimed a 14-8 advantage. Illinois Wesleyan maintained its stronghold on the set as Watt's ace forced the Polar Bears' second timeout at 20-12. Babec and French combined for a set-clinching block to give the visitors the set, 25-14.

In the second set, the Titans' hot-hitting carried over, but was matched by a strong blocking presence. Palmer sparked IWU early, going for two kills before combining with Pierce for a block to put the Titans in front, 4-1. The Polar Bears came roaring back to cut the lead to two, but a Babec kill got the Green and White back on track as Illinois Wesleyan closed out the set, 25-18.

Bowdoin neutralized IWU in the third, using a six-point run to take the set, 25-19. The Polar Bears notched five blocks in the set and limited the Titans to a .023 attacking percentage as they avoided the sweep.

Illinois Wesleyan erased a nine-point deficit in the fourth as Harrington tooled a block to level the score at 21-21. Bowdoin found its stride out of a timeout though, as the Polar Bears scored four straight to take the set, 25-21, and force a fifth.

The fifth set was a wild one in which the Green and White used back-to-back kills from French and a BC error to take a 3-0 lead. IWU expanded its advantage to 8-4 on Watts' ace, but Bowdoin picked up two straight points out of a timeout to cut the lead in half, 8-6.

Illinois Wesleyan found itself up 12-9 on another French kill, but the Polar Bears stole the momentum with a four-point run to take a 13-12 lead. After a Kim Nelson-Brown timeout, a Bowdoin miscue and Pierce ace pushed the set to match point, 14-13, but things were far from over. The set saw the score tied eight more times before Illinois Wesleyan rattled off three straight points to take the set, 24-22, and the match 3-2.

The Green and White's northeast adventure continues tomorrow, Oct. 21, with a pair of games at the Colby College Tournament in Waterville, Maine. IWU will battle host Colby at 11 a.m. ET before squaring off against Endicott at 1 p.m. ET.