BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team will play NCAA Tournament Regional host, and No. 9 nationally-ranked Marietta College in the second round Friday night, Nov. 22. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m. ET inside Ban Johnson Arena in Marietta, Ohio.
Illinois Wesleyan earned the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin's automatic bid after defeating 10th-ranked Millikin University in the CCIW Tournament Championship Saturday, Nov. 16, winning a lengthy five-set battle. The Titans defeated Franklin & Marshall College in the opening round of the regional in straight sets Thursday night, Nov. 21, to keep their season alive.
Marietta (24-1) earned an at-large bid to the tournament after falling to Otterbein University in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Championship Saturday, Nov. 16. The Pioneers downed St. John Fisher University in the last match of the opening round Thursday night, winning in four sets.
SURVIVE AND ADVANCE: IWU, who is the sixth-seed in the Marietta Regional pod, swept third-seed Franklin & Marshall Thursday night, Nov. 21, to keep its season alive and advance to the second round of the NCAA Regional. As a team, the Titans held statistical advantages in kills (46-33), assists (44-30), digs (46-38), blocks (9-1), and aces (11-4). Illinois Wesleyan hit .252 for the match while limiting the Diplomats to a .163 clip.
TRIPLE THREAT: The Illinois Wesleyan offense saw three players register double-digit kills in the three-set victory over Franklin & Marshall Thursday night, with all three players making their NCAA Tournament debuts. Junior Taylor French led the way with 16 kills on an impressive .394 attack percentage. Fellow junior Hannah Tellor finished with 12 kills on a whopping .476 attack percentage, and freshman Alex Bardouniotis totaled 10 kills in the contest.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Sophomore Sophia Feeney and senior Abby Erdman split the setting duties for the Titan offense in the sweep of Franklin & Marshall Thursday night. Feeney led the team with 24 assists, while Erdman totaled 18.
NO. 23 IN WIN 23: Junior Kannyn Boyd led the Green and White defense with 18 digs in the win over Franklin & Marshall. The win marked the 23rd victory for Illinois Wesleyan this season, the most in a season since 2018.
WHOLE LOTS OF REJECTIONS: Sophomore Eleanor Palmer led the net defense for the Titans with five blocks in IWU's sweep over Franklin & Marshall. Taylor French and Hannah Tellor each added three, and fifth-year Jordan Pierce posted a pair of rejections.
OAC OPPONENTS: Illinois Wesleyan will meet Marietta on the court for the first time in program history Friday night, Nov. 22. While the Pioneers might be new to the Titans, IWU has faced a number of OAC opponents. The Titans hold a 2-0 record over Ohio Wesleyan, are 1-3 against Otterbein, 1-1 against Heidelberg, 1-2 against Capital, 0-1 against John Carroll, 1-1 against Muskingum, 3-2 against Baldwin-Wallace, and 1-0 over Wilmington.
ALL-REGION HONORS (AGAIN): Taylor French was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Associaton First Team All-Region 8 Wednesday, Nov. 20. French earned the honor for the third straight season, just the third player in program history to receive the accolade at least three times. She joins Amy Rajala (1989-91) and Tyler Brown (2015-18) in the feat. The junior was one of four CCIW players on the list, joined by Kailee Itzenhuiser from Millikin and North Central's Bailey Houlihan on the first team. Carthage's Jenna Damon was an honorable mention.
NEW FOE WHO DIS?: Illinois Wesleyan will meet Marietta on the court for the first time in program history. The Pioneers enter the contest with an overall record of 24-1, and earned an at-large bid after falling in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Championship to Otterbein, 3-1, Saturday, Nov. 16. The two teams will face off at 7 p.m. ET, and will be the second of two matches inside Ban Johnson Arena.
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: The Titans ran the table in CCIW play, going 8-0 during the regular season, and 2-0 in the conference tournament. The perfect slate resulted in IWU's sixth CCIW Regular Season Championship, and it's fifth conference tournament crown. The only other Illinois Wesleyan team to go undefeated in regular season and tournament play was the 2018 team, headlined by now-assistant coach Tyler Brown, who was a senior on the squad. The 2018 squad was the first team to advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, becoming one of the final 16 teams standing. The Titans defeated California Lutheran in three sets to open the tournament, then took down WashU in four sets. Illinois Wesleyan fell in four sets to Aurora to end the historic season with an overall record of 27-6.
DOWN GOES NO. 10: Illinois Wesleyan defeated 10th-ranked Millikin University for the second time this season to clinch the tournament championship. Hannah Tellor led the Titan offense with a career-high 17 kills on an impressive .382 attack percentage. Taylor French added 15 kills, and Alex Bardouniotis finished with 12 kills to round out the double-digit hitters. Abby Erdman and Sophia Feeney orchestrated the offense with 25 and 23 assists, respectively. Kannyn Boyd led the defense with 23 digs, and Eleanor Palmer matched her career-best seven blocks.
29 YEARS of KNB: Head Coach Kim Nelson-Brown is in her 29th season leading the Green and White, and has accumulated an overall record of 564-397. Nelson-Brown has led the Titans to six CCIW Regular Season Championships (1997 outright, 2003 outright, 2015 shared, 2018 outright, 2021 outright, 2024 outright), four CCIW Tournament Championships (1997, 2018, 2021, 2024), and seven NCAA Tournament Appearances (1997, 1998, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2024). She has coached 16 All-American selections, 24 All-Region honorees, 90 All-CCIW selections, and eight CCIW "Players of the Year."
RANG IN ALL-CCIW HONORS: The Titans saw four players earn All-CCIW honors this season. Taylor French and Hannah Tellor earned First Team All-CCIW Honors, while Kannyn Boyd and Sophia Feeney were featured on the second team. French was named the CCIW Hitter of the Year for the second straight season, and Bardouniotis earned the league's First-Year Student-Athlete of the Year award. Also reeling in conference accolades, Kim Nelson-Brown was named the CCIW Coach of the Year for the fourth time in her career, as she previously earned the honor in 2003, 2018, and 2021.
PARDON OUR FRENCH: Illinois Wesleyan's offense has been led by junior Taylor French for the past three seasons. A two-time AVCA All-American, French leads the team with 481 kills, the ninth-most nationally, while her 4.04 kills per set average ranks 28th. The Romeoville, Ill. native also ranks nationally in points (584.5, fifth), aces (85, fifth), points per set (4.91, 14th), and aces per set (0.71, 21st). The junior has recorded 21 double-doubles in 32 matches this season.
1000x4: The Titans have celebrated three players reaching 1000 in a statistical category this season on four separate occasions. Fifth-year Jordan Pierce reached 1000 career assists at Chicago Nov. 6, and Abby Erdman hit the assists mark against Wheaton Sept. 18. Taylor French achieved 1000 career kills against Baldwin-Walalce Aug. 31, and eclipsed 1000 digs Oct. 11 against Wartburg. French became the eighth player in program history to record 1000 kills and 1000 digs in a career.
TRIO OF SETTERS: Illinois Wesleyan has featured a trio of setters that have been the masterminds behind the offense this season. Sophia Feeney leads the team with 550 assists, averaging 5.29 per set, followed by Abby Erdman with 397, and Jordan Pierce with 269. The trio have been behind 86.2 percent of the team's total assists this season.
BLOCK PARTY: The Titans have seen a significant net presence this season, led by Eleanor Palmer with 91 blocks this season. The sophomore is averaging 0.81 rejections per set, and has totaled 16 solo stuffs. Hannah Tellor closely follows with 86 blocks, an average of 0.72 per set, and leads the team with 17 solo rejections. Senior Morgan Harrington is third on the team with 41 blocks.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Illinois Wesleyan enters its eighth NCAA Tournament looking for its first trip to the NCAA Final Eight. The Titans own a 5-7 record in the tournament, and are 5-6 under the direction of Kim Nelson-Brown. IWU has made it as far as the third round, as the 2018 squad defeated California Lutheran and WashU to be one of 16 teams left standing, but fell to Aurora to end its run. Making its first appearance in 1991, the Green and White fell to Benedictine. The Titans won their first NCAA Tournament match in 2015, defeating Dominican in straight sets.
GET YOUR TICKETS: Marietta College is selling tickets for the NCAA Regional online, which can be found on the women's volleyball schedule page on iwusports.com. All-Session pass prices are $20 for adults, $12 for senior citizens, $12 for students, $8 for children between the ages of 3-12, and free for any child age two or under.
A FAMILY AFFAIR: After becoming one of the most decorated players in program history while playing for her mom, Tyler Brown joined the IWU staff prior to the 2020 season. A part of the 2015-18 teams, Brown holds the program record for career kills (1777), digs (1987), and points (1955.5), along with many season and match records. Brown was a three-time AVCA First Team All-American (2016-18), was an All-America Honorable mention in 2015, and was tabbed as the AVCA Freshman of the Year in 2015.
NEW FACES, NEW PLACES: Head Coach Kim Nelson-Brown boosted her roster after the 2023 season with the help of the transfer portal. Kannyn Boyd transferred in from Division II Newberry College, while Hannah Tellor came to IWU by way of Illinois Central College, a junior college in Peoria, Ill. The two have made immediate impacts for the Titans, as Tellor has started all 32 matches for the Green and White, and Boyd has been the libero in 29 contests. Tellor ranks second on the team in kills with 259 on a team-best .337 clip, and has added 86 blocks, 23 aces, 102 digs, and 20 assists. Boyd leads the defense with 511 digs, averaging 4.91 per set, along with 114 assists and 21 aces.
Also making an immediate impact for IWU, Alex Bardouniotis has posted 244 kills, third-most for the Titans, and sits second on the squad with 48 aces. The freshman is also third on the team in digs with 253, and has totaled 30 blocks.
ON THE HORIZON: With a win, Illinois Wesleyan would face the winner of University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and University of Chicago, which will play the 4:30 p.m. ET match Friday night. The winners of the two matches will play in the Regional Championship match at 7 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 23. The winner of the championship will punch a ticket to the NCAA Final Eight in Salem, Va., which will take place Wednesday-Saturday, Dec. 4-7.
