Morgan Harrington & Abby Erdman talking with Coach Nicole Bing on the bench

ASHTIN ELDER PHOTO

Women’s Volleyball Eyes Elmhurst Tournament

Titans will take a break from CCIW action, face Wartburg and UW-River Falls

10/10/2024 10:00:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - After taking control of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin race, the Illinois Wesleyan University will take a break from conference action and travel to Elmhurst, Ill. to play in Elmhurst University's tournament Friday, Oct. 11. The Titans (12-5) will face Wartburg College at 2 p.m. before concluding the trip against University of Wisconsin-River Falls at 4:30 p.m.

Illinois Wesleyan enters the tournament after sweeping CCIW foe Carthage College Wednesday night, Oct. 9, inside the Shirk Center. The win leaves IWU as the only undefeated team in the league, as the Green and White improved to 5-0. Junior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) dazzled for the Titans, finishing with 15 kills on a .387 attack percentage, along with seven digs, three aces, and two blocks. Also proving to be a key component of the Illinois Wesleyan offense was sophomore Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park), who posted eight kills on a whopping .538 attack percentage. Sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) and senior Abby Erdman (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley) orchestrated the hot-hitting Titan offense that finished the night with a .309 clip, posting 18 and 16 assists, respectively.

French paces the offense with 258 kills, averaging 4.23 per set. Fellow junior Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) is second with 137, closely followed by freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) with 122. Both are averaging above two kills per set. Feeney and Erdman have been the masterminds behind the majority of the IWU offense. Feeney, the reigning CCIW Setter of the Week, enters Friday with 281 assists, an average of 5.20 helpers per set, while Erdman's 222 assists come out to an average of 4.19 per set. French, Bardouniotis, and Feeney are the top three from the service line for the Green and White with 38, 31, and 16 aces, respectively.

Defensively, IWU has seen junior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) shine at libero, leading the team in digs with 232, an average of 4.83 per set. French is second on the squad with 186 and enters Friday with 998 career digs, just two shy of the 1000 mark. Bardouniotis rounds out the top three with 107 in her first collegiate season. Sophomore Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) leads the net defense with 48 blocks, followed by Tellor's 40. Senior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East) is third on the team with 25 rejections on the season.

IWU will meet Wartburg (12-5) for the seventh time since the series began in 2002 with the Titans holding a 5-1 lead in the series. The two teams met last season, with Illinois Wesleyan registering the sweep Sept. 15, 2023. French led the match with 18 kills on an impressive .455 clip, while Feeney strung together a team-high 21 assists. Palmer posted four blocks in the match, and then-sophomore Katie Gund (Pewaukee, Wis.-Pewaukee) notched a double-double performance with 10 assists and 11 digs. The Knights most recently defeated Coe College in five sets Saturday, Oct. 5.

Friday's second match of the day will see the Green and White take on UW-River Falls (8-12) for the 17th time with the series dating back to 1996. UWRF leads the series 9-7, but IWU won the last matchup in straight sets Oct. 19, 2018. Now-assistant coach Tyler Brown led the team with a 13-kill, 19-dig, double-double performance amid her senior season. The Falcons have dropped their last three contests, most recently falling to Augsburg University in five sets Saturday, Oct. 5.

Elmhurst will be providing live streams and live stats of each match, which can be found on the IWU women's volleyball schedule page on iwusports.com, or by clicking here.

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