SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team began its 2024 campaign on a high note Friday evening, Aug. 30, on day one of the Wittenberg Fall Classic as the Titans (1-0) swept 24th-ranked Mount St. Joseph University by set scores of 25-20, 25-19, and 25-22. 

Illinois Wesleyan utilized nearly untouchable serving, a balanced offense, and a strong defensive effort to knock off MSJ. The Titans were credited with 14 aces, tying for the fifth-most in a three-match set in program history. Fifth-year Jordan Pierce (Bonfield, Ill.-Herscher) and junior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) led the way with four aces apiece, while freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) and junior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) notched three each.

As a team, IWU held advantages in kills (32-27), hitting percentage (.185 to .120), and assists (30-23). MSJ picked up a slim, 41-40, edge in digs and tallied seven blocks to four by Illinois Wesleyan.

French paced the Titans with 11 kills on 22 swings, good for a .364 clip, while Bardouniotis registered eight kills in her collegiate debut. Pierce dished out a team-high 19 assists, narrowly missing a double-double with nine digs. French and Bardouniotis totaled six and five digs, respectively. IWU's dig leader was Boyd, who notched a match-best 16 on the night. 

Pierce set French for a hammer of a kill to even the score at three apiece in the first set, but MSJ used a service error and a pair of hitting errors to climb ahead, 6-3. 

A kill by senior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East) put the Green and White back on track and kicked off a seven-point IWU run. The spurt featured a dump by Pierce, a rejection by Harrington and junior Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township), an ace by Boyd, the first kill in the career of Bardouniotis, and a Harrington kill. The big swing forced a Mount St. Joe timeout with Illinois Wesleyan leading, 9-6, but the reset did little to quiet the Titans. Boyd came out of the timeout with another ace to cap the run and open up a four-point lead.

Despite the run, the Lions utilized a few Titan miscues before tooling a block to grab a 13-12 edge midway through the opening set. Illinois Wesleyan used another key run, this time a 7-2 spurt, to grab a 20-16 advantage and bring about MSJ's second timeout of the set. 

MSJ staved off match point a few times, but Pierce set the middle, where Tellor smashed the set-clinching kill.

The second set was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team able to grab a lead larger than three in the first half of the set. Bardouniotis' kill pushed Illinois Wesleyan ahead, 16-13, before back-to-back Lion errors pushed the Titans ahead, 18-13, to bring about a MSJ timeout. 

The Green and White saw its lead trimmed to as few as two, but never wavered as IWU took the set, 25-19.

Mount St. Joe scored the first two points of the third set, but French came up with a four-point spurt. The junior outside hitter tooled a block on a tip, before rattling off three aces in-a-row to give IWU a 4-2 edge.

Later in the set, senior Abby Erdman's (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley) set for French broke an 11-11 tie and jump started the Green and White. Pierce followed with back-to-back aces to give IWU control, 14-11, and force MSJ to call its final timeout of the match. Illinois Wesleyan did not let up however, forcing a few Lion miscues to bolt out to a 17-11 lead. 

The Green and White held off a late comeback from Mount St. Joe as a French kill and Lion error sealed the sweep, 25-22.

Illinois Wesleyan returns to the court tomorrow, Aug. 31, for matches against Otterbein University and Baldwin-Wallace University. First serve is set for 12:30 p.m. ET and 3 p.m. ET, respectively.