BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Off a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin opening sweep over Wheaton College Wednesday, Sept. 18, the Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team heads to Aurora University for a triangular Saturday, Sept. 21. IWU (7-4) will face University of Dubuque at 2:30 p.m. before taking on Aurora (6-4) to close the day at 5 p.m. Action is set to take place inside Thornton Gymnasium. 

The Titans enter the weekend off of a dominant showing against the Thunder inside the Shirk Center Wednesday night. IWU's offense hit .417 as a team for the contest, the eighth-best clip in program history. The offense was led by junior Taylor French's (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) 18 kills on a .615 attack percentage, the seventh-highest mark in a game all-time, followed by freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) with nine kills on a .375 clip. The contest also saw a milestone performance for senior Abby Erdman (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley), who eclipsed the 1000 career assists mark, finishing the night with 17. Sophomore Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) put on a show at the net, finishing with six blocks for the Green and White. 

French leads the Illinois Wesleyan attack with 168 kills, 18th-most across the country, with an average of 4.20 per set, the 17th-best average nationally. Her 200.5 points and 5.01 points per set average also rank top-20 in Division III, clocking in at 12th and 13th, respectively. Tellor is second on the squad with 84 kills, hitting .376 for the season. Bardouniotis follows closely with 82 kills in her first collegiate season. 

The Titans have seen a trio of setters orchestrate the majority of the offense this season. Leading the way, sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) has racked up 167 assists, averaging 5.06 per set. Fifth-year Jordan Pierce (Bonfield, Ill.-Herscher) is second with 119, followed by Erdman's 114. French's 25 aces are a team-high, while Feeney and Bardouniotis are second and third with 15 and 14, respectively. 

On the defensive end, French and fellow junior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) lead the Titans in digs with 119 each. Freshman Alysa Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill.-IC Catholic Prep) is third on the team with 93. Lawton's average of 4.43 digs per set is a team-best, while Boyd closely trails with an average of 4.41 per set. Palmer has led the net defense this season, racking up 33 total blocks, an average of 0.97 per set. Tellor follows with 23 stuffs, and French and senior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East) each have 15 rejections on the year. 

IWU and Dubuque (8-5) will meet for the eighth time in the series that dates back to 1997. The Green and White looks to expand its slim, 4-3, advantage in the series, and have been the winners of the last two. The two teams last met Oct. 21, 2016, with IWU walking away with a sweep. Now-assistant coach Tyler Brown racked up 12 kills on a .375 attack percentage, along with eight digs and a pair of blocks for the Titans in the contest. UD enters the match off a four-set win over University of Wisconsin-River Falls Saturday, Sept. 14, and are the winners of its last three matches. 

Illinois Wesleyan will take its 11-5 series advantage into Saturday's night contest against AU. The Green and White have walked away victorious in the last two meetings, both coming in four sets. The most recent matchup came on Nov. 4, 2023, as the Titans walked away with the senior day win. French powered the IWU offense with 27 kills, while Pierce totaled a then-season-best 46 assists. The Spartans have won their last four matches, most recently downing Marian University on straight sets Wednesday night, Sept. 18. 

Aurora will be providing a live stream and live stats for each match. Both links can be found by clicking here, or going to the women's volleyball schedule page on iwusports.com.