BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team put on a show in front of its home crowd, sweeping 15th-ranked North Park University in a key College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin match Wednesday night, Oct. 2. The Titans took the sets by scores of 25-17, 25-10, and 25-21 to improve to 10-5 on the season, and 3-0 in CCIW action, while NPU falls to 10-3 overall, 1-1 in league play. 

Juniors Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) and Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) led the offense with strong showings. French finished with 14 kills on a .324 attack percentage, while Tellor had seven on a monstrous .538 clip, committing no attack errors on 13 swings. Freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) added nine kills and led the Green and White with three aces. Sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) and senior Abby Erdman (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley) provided a balanced offense, finishing with 17 and 16 assists, respectively. 

Illinois Wesleyan's defense saw a strong net presence, led by Tellor's five blocks. French, senior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East) and sophomore Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) each finished with two rejections. Junior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) led the back row with a match-high 20 digs. Bardouniotis was second with 13 digs, tying her career-best. French finished with 11 digs, notching her ninth double-double performance of the season. 

As a team, IWU held advantages in all categories, as the Green and White posted 44 kills on a .288 attack percentage, while limiting the Vikings to 23 kills on a .045 clip. IWU also saw leads in blocks (7-2), assists (37-22), and digs (63-22). 

Off to a slow start in the first set, IWU rattled off five straight points to come back from down 8-4, tying the set at eight apiece. Bardouniotis started the rally with a kill, then posted two aces in the next four points, sandwiching kills from sophomore Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) and Tellor. 

After a North Park sideout looked to halt the run, IWU quickly found its groove, taking the next three points to garner its first lead of the set, 11-9. Illinois Wesleyan never trailed after, powered by an 11-2 run, and two kills in three points from Tellor secured the first set, 25-17. 

Erdman cracked open the second set, catching the Vikings defense off guard with a dump set. Bardouniotis buried a dish from Palmer, and Tellor slammed one down to up the set score to 3-1. Harrington and Tellor stuffed an attack from NPU's All-American Adriana Rodriguez, electrifying the crowd, as the Titans took a 4-2 lead. French posted back-to-back kills to extend the lead to 9-4, forcing the Vikings to burn an early timeout. The break in action did little to stop the Titans, who took the next three points by way of two North Park miscues and another French kill. Palmer followed a few points later with a kill of her own, as the Vikings used their final timeout of the set trailing 13-5. 

Tellor solo stuffed an NPU attack, kickstarting a 9-1 run to close the set. Feeney fed Shannon and Bardouniotis for back-to-back kills, and Tellor and Shannon paired up for another block two points later to go up 21-9. After North Park notched a sideout, IWU slammed the door shut on the second set, taking the last four points via a kill from Bardouniotis and three straight from French, securing the 25-10 set victory. 

In what proved to be the closest set of the night, the momentum stayed in favor of the home team, as Illinois Wesleyan never trailed. All tied at five, the Titans took the next four points by way of a kill from Bardouniotis, two straight blocks from Tellor and French, and a Bardouniotis ace pushed the Green and White ahead, 9-5. 

A North Park run chipped at the lead making it a two-point game, Bardouniotis registered one of her nine kills in the match to capitalize out of a timeout from head coach Kim Nelson-Brown. A Vikings miscue provided the Green and White more breathing room, as the score stood at 17-13. 

Once again clawing back, this time making it a one-point difference, French slammed one down following a Vikings service error to put IWU up 20-17. IWU took four of the last five points in the set, and Erdman dished one to Harrington to secure the sweep for IWU, 25-21. 

The Titans remain at home, hosting eighth-ranked Millikin University to kick off homecoming weekend Friday night, Oct. 4. The green out match is set for a 7 p.m. start.