BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Eyeing its final home tournament and regular season contests, the Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team hosts the Illinois Wesleyan Invite Saturday, Nov. 9. Centre College and Wisconsin Lutheran College come to town for the tournament to face the Titans (19-8). IWU will face Centre (19-5) at 9 a.m. before taking on Wisconsin Lutheran (10-15) at 1 p.m. for the regular season finale. The two visiting teams will face off at 11 a.m. for a neutral site contest.

IWU will celebrate Senior Day prior to the 1 p.m. contest, honoring seniors Abby Erdman (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley), Carly Kuehl (St. Louis, Mo.-Parkway West), Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East), Jessie Sariev (Schaumburg, Ill.-Schaumburg), and fifth-year Jordan Pierce (Bonfield, Ill.-Herscher). The group has won two College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Regular Season Championships (2021 & 2024), a CCIW Tournament (2021), and made the NCAA Tournament in 2021. 

The Titans enter the contest off a loss to No. 21 University of Chicago Wednesday night, Nov. 6. Junior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) posted a match-high 14 kills along with 10 digs, second-most on the team behind fellow junior Kannyn Boyd's (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) 11. Pierce posted a team-high 11 assists in a night that saw her eclipse the 1000 career assists mark. 

French leads the offense with 411 kills this season, which ranks 12th nationally, while her 4.07 kills per set average is 25th among Division III. The junior also ranks nationally in points with 403 (eighth), points per set with an average of 4.88 (17th), and her 67 aces ranks 11th. Junior Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) is second on the team in kills with 208, followed closely by freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) with 204. Bardouniotis trails French in aces, having recorded 44 in her freshman campaign, while sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) is third with 29.

Feeney leads the trio of Titans that have orchestrated the majority of the offense this season. The sophomore has accumulated 439 assists, averaging 5.10 helpers per set. Erdman's 298 assists are good for second, and Pierce closely follows with 266.

Defensively, Boyd leads the team with 427 digs, averaging 4.85 digs per set. French is second with 313, and Bardouniotis rounds out the top-three with 200 digs. Continuing a strong net presence, sophomore Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) leads the Green and White with 71 blocks, 14 coming on solo stuffs. Tellor's 70 rejections closely trail for second, while her 16 solo blocks are a team-high. Harrington is third on the team with 41 blocks. 

IWU and Centre will meet for the first time in program history. The Colonels most recently defeated Oglethorpe in straight sets Sunday, Nov. 3. 

The Titans will meet the Warriors on the court for the fourth time, with the series beginning in 2012. IWU owns a 2-1 advantage, and took the most recent meeting in straight sets Nov. 1, 2014. Now-assistant coach Nicole Bing led the Green and White with 20 assists and three aces in the contest en route to the Titans recording their 20th win of the season. WLC enters the weekend off a five-set win over Lakeland University Thursday, Nov. 7.

A link to the tournament page, which includes information about all three matches and links to the live stream and live stats, can be found by clicking here.