Jessie Sariev hitting against Simpson Oct. 26, 2024

Kodiak Creative

Women’s Volleyball Heads to Carroll for CCIW Finale

Titans look to clinch regular season championship outright

10/28/2024 12:05:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - With the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin finale on deck, the Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team looks to secure the regular season championship outright with a win at Carroll University Tuesday night, Oct. 29. Action is set to begin at 7 p.m. inside Van Male Fieldhouse.

Illinois Wesleyan (18-6, 7-0 CCIW) enters the contest off two wins in the IWU Classic Saturday, Oct. 26. The Titans swept Simpson College before defeating Albion College in four sets. The performances of juniors Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) and Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) saw them land on the all-tournament team.

French leads the offense with 371 kills, the 14th-most across Division III, while her 4.12 kills per set average ranks 21st. French also ranks top-15 nationally in points (444, ninth), points per set (4.93, 13th), and aces (60, 15th). Tellor is second on the squad with 193 kills, followed by freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) with 184. Bardouniotis trails French in aces, having totaled 39 this season. Sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) rounds out the top three with 27 aces.

A trio of Titans have been powering the offense this season. Feeney leads the group with 388 assists, averaging 5.17 per set. Senior Abby Erdman (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley) is second with 297, and fifth-year Jordan Pierce (Bonfield, Ill.-Herscher) is third with 227. Pierce enters Tuesday's match nearing the 1000 career assists mark, having totaled 969.

Defensively, junior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) has totaled a team-high 373 digs on the season, averaging 4.84 per set. French's 270 digs are second, and Bardouniotis is third on the team with 176. The duo of sophomores Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) and Tellor have made their net presence known this season. Palmer leads the team with 67 blocks, 14 coming on solo stuffs, while Tellor closely trails with 62, having notched 12 by herself. Senior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East) is third with 41 rejections.

The two teams will face off for just the 11th time dating back to 1995, with IWU holding a commanding 9-1 advantage. The winners of the last four meetings, the Green and White took the most recent matchup in four sets Sept. 13, 2024. French posted a 15-kill, 13-dig, double-double performance, while then-freshman Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) was second in kills with seven. Palmer posted six kills and a team-high four blocks. Carroll comes in with an 18-11 overall record, and is 1-4 in CCIW action. The Pioneers most recently fell in five sets to conference foe Wheaton College Wednesday, Oct. 23.

A link to the live stream and live stats for the match can be found on iwusports.com under the women's volleyball schedule, or by clicking here.

Print Friendly Version