BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team took both of its matches in the IWU Classic Saturday, Oct. 26. The Titans (18-6) opened the day by sweeping Simpson College (25-23, 25-16, 25-16), before downing Albion College in four, with set scores of 18-25, 25-10, 25-14, 25-22. Simpson dips to 7-14 and Albion drops to 8-20. The strong performances of juniors Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) and Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) landed them on the all-tournament team. With the win, IWU boosted its home record to 9-1 and has won 11 of its past 12 matches.

Illinois Wesleyan 3, Simpson 0
French led the Titans with 10 kills, while junior Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) and freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) tallied eight kills apiece. Tellor totaled seven kills on a .538 clip, while Shannon's eight kills came on a .429 attacking percentage.

Fifth-year Jordan Pierce (Bonfield, Ill.-Herscher) led the Titans with 18 assists, while also tying Bardouniotis for the team lead with two aces. Senior Abby Erdman (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley) tallied 10 assists.

Junior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) racked up a team-high 22 digs, while Pierce narrowly missed out on a double-double as she finished with nine digs. French and Bardouniotis added nine digs each, while Tellor's two blocks led the team.

As a team, the Titans hit .168 to Simpson's .088 clip and finished with a 42-26 lead in kills. IWU doubled up the Storm in aces, 6-3, while also holding advantages in digs (64-53) and assists (37-23). Simpson notched a 4-2 edge in blocks.

The Green and White started strong, as a Pierce ace started off the day's matches. Shannon smashed a kill to push the Titans ahead, 4-1, before her tip moments later gave IWU a three-point cushion, 6-3. 

Sophomore Eleanor Palmer's (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) kill found a wide open gap in the middle of the floor and senior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East) notched back-to-back points to extend the lead to 9-5. Simpson stormed back to level the match at 11-11, but the Titans used kills from Shannon, Tellor, and Bardouniotis to drive ahead, 15-11, into a Simpson timeout. 

Shannon kept the Green and White rolling with a kill as IWU's lead stretched to six, but the Storm mounted a late comeback to pull within one, 23-22. After a swing by Harrington, Tellor put the set away with her fifth kill of the match as Illinois Wesleyan took the set, 25-23.

Two monster kills from French gave the Titans a 12-5 lead in the second set as IWU controlled the set from start to finish. A five-point run that featured kills by Harrington, Shannon, and Bardouniotis, as well as an ace by Pierce saw a Simpson timeout with the home team leading, 19-12. Illinois Wesleyan closed the set with back-to-back kills. Pierce first set Shannon for her eighth kill of the match before Harrington tipped a set over the block for match point. With the 25-16 win, IWU grabbed a two sets to none advantage in the match.

Illinois Wesleyan used contributions from several players to close out the sweep in the third in convincing fashion. Back-to-back kills by French were followed by a Tellor-French rejection as IWU took control, 18-8. Seniors Carly Kuehl (St. Louis, Mo.-Parkway West) and Jessie Sariev (Schaumburg, Ill.-Schaumburg) along with freshman Larisa Link (Chicago, Ill.-Marist) helped IWU close out the set, 25-16.

Illinois Wesleyan 3, Albion 1
Bardouniotis finished the match with a career-high 16 kills on a whopping .500 attack percentage to tie with French for the match-high. Tellor added eight on a .353 clip, while Shannon accumulated seven. Pierce and sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) orchestrated the majority of the Titan offense that hit .272 in the match, highlighted by a .525 clip in the second set. Pierce finished with 27 assists, while Feeney added 20. Feeney and Bardouniotis each finished with a trio of aces, while French recorded two.

The net defense put on a show, as IWU finished with a 12-4 advantage in blocks. Harrington bested her career-high with seven rejections, while Palmer matched her career-best with seven blocks, one coming on a solo stuff. Tellor finished the match with five, also recording a solo rejection. Boyd led the match with 22 digs, while French, Pierce, and Bardouniotis each recorded double-digit digs to post double-double performances. French had 13, while Pierce and Bardouniotis added 11 and 10, respectively. 

As a team, IWU held a 58-40 lead in kills, limiting Albion to a .161 attack percentage. The Titans also saw advantages in assists (57-36), digs (70-62), and aces (9-2). 

After dropping the first set, 25-18, the Titans quickly responded in the second set. Harrington opened with a kill, and Bardouniotis followed her own kill with an ace to give the Titans an early 3-1 lead. 

A Palmer kick kicked off a 10-point run for Illinois Wesleyan that saw kills from French and Shannon, an ace from Feeney , and another kill from Palmer to push the home team ahead 13-3. Following three straight points from the Britons, IWU took five of the next six points via a kill and an ace from French, another Shannon kill, and back-to-back kills for Bardouniotis, and an AC miscue finished off the run, 18-7.

IWU cruised to the set win, 25-10, taking the last four points of the contest. Harrington and Palmer teamed up for a block to post set point, and Palmer punched in a pass from Pierce to even the match at one set apiece. 

The third set was similar to the second, as IWU held control for the majority of its duration. Bardouniotis, Tellor, and Harrington recorded three straight Green and White kills, all via assists from Pierce to make the score 4-3. Following an Albion sideout, French snuck through to bury a ball, followed by another Palmer and Harrington block, and a kill from Harrington to extend the 6-1 run. The Titans took nine of the next 11 points to extend its command to 16-6, with a Tellor and Bardouniotis block finishing the run. 

A Tellor block sandwiched Bardouniotis kills to finalize the third set in favor of the Titans, 25-14. 

Trailing 7-4 early in the fourth set, Feeney fed French and Bardouniotis for kills, and an ace of her own net the score at seven all. The match continued with its back-and-forth action before a 7-1 Green and White run saw the home team take control. Harrington sparked the run by downing a dish from Boyd, followed by a solo stuff from Palmer, and a Tellor ace saw IWU take a slim, 13-12, lead before Albion tied it back up with a sideout. The Titans quickly regrouped, as Pierce found Palmer, followed by a Shannon kill from Feeney, before Shannon and Palmer rejected an AC attack. Feeney finished the run with an ace to give the home team a four-point cushion, 17-14. 

With the set even at 20, Bardouniotis followed a bad set by the Britons, and Pierce fed French for a kill to put IWU up, 23-20. A French kill cued up match point, 24-21, but the Britons snuck in a dump set to extend the match. Pierce dished one to French on the next point, who sealed the win with her 16th kill of the night, taking the fourth set, 25-22. 

Illinois Wesleyan now returns its focus to College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin competition as the Green and White travel to Carroll University Tuesday night, Oct. 29, for its league finale. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will see the Titans look to complete an unblemished CCIW record and earn the league title outright.