AURORA, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team split its trip at the Aurora Triangular Saturday, Sept. 21. The Titans (8-5) fell to University of Dubuque in five sets to open the day (25-18, 17-25, 25-23, 22-25, 16-14), before upending host Aurora University in straight sets, 25-18, 25-15, 25-14. 

Illinois Wesleyan could not mount the comeback needed to defeat Dubuque (10-5) to start the day, falling in five sets. Despite holding advantages in kills (70-51), assists (65-44), digs (93-86), and attack percentage (.186-.167), IWU was burned by UD holding the upperhand in aces (10-4) and blocks (7-5). 

The match saw junior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) lead the Green and White with 22 kills, while fellow junior Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) and senior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East) each set new career-highs with 15 and 14 kills, respectively. IWU's offense was run by the duo of senior Abby Erdman (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley) and sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community), as Erdman finished with a match-high 29 assists, while Feeney closely followed with 27. Freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) led the Titans at the service line with a pair of aces. 

Illinois Wesleyan's defense was powered by junior Kannyn Boyd's (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) career-best 33 digs, while French posted 19 digs and Bardouniotis added 13, establishing a new career-high. Tellor led the Titans with four blocks, one coming on a solo stuff. Fifth-year Jordan Pierce (Bonfield, Ill.-Herscher) added a pair of rejections for the Green and White. 

After dropping the first set, 25-18, the Titans responded in the second. Bardouiotis gave IWU a quick lead, posting back-to-back aces to jump out, 4-2. After French beat a block to Illinois Wesleyan out in front, sophomore Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) followed with a kill of her own a few points later to extend the Titans' lead to 8-5, capping off a four-point run. 

The Spartans trimmed the lead back to one, 11-10, but kills by Harrington sandwiched a UD miscue to put the Green and White back out in front, 14-10. IWU held a slim lead until closing on a 5-1 run. Feeney fed Pierce for a kill to kickstart the run, and Harrington continued her career-best showing with two kills in three points after a Dubuque attack error. Bardouniotis slammed a dish from Erdman down the line to close the set, 25-17. 

Once again plagued by a slow start to the set, IWU dropped the third in a close, 25-23, affair. Having to respond to stay alive, the Green and White came out in the fourth. Erdman found Harrington and Palmer for two straight kills to start out in front, 2-0, but the Spartans held the upperhand for the majority of the set, as IWU faced an 18-15 deficit. A French kill and a block by Harrington and Palmer cut it to one. 

Trailing 21-19, Boyd registered a kill, and French and Pierce followed with their own to put IWU out in front, 22-21. Following a UD sideout, Tellor pushed the Titans back out in front, and back-to-back French kills sealed the set, 25-22.

A close fifth set saw IWU reach the eight point mark first, as Feeney found Tellor to see Illinois Wesleyan take an 8-6 lead. Three straight points for the Spartans saw Dubuque go back in front, but French and Harrington rattled off back-to-back kills to go up 10-9. Bardouniotis set up match point at 14-13, burying a dish from Feeney, but UD mounted the comeback, snagging the last three points, and the match, 16-14. 

Not making the same mistake twice, Illinois Wesleyan came out hot to open the second contest of the day, this time facing the Spartans of Aurora University. Harrington roped a kill to open the match, then found Palmer for a kill to give the Green and White an early, 2-0, lead. All tied up at four, Tellor downed a pass from Erdman, followed by Feeney finding Bardouniotis for a 6-4 advantage. 

The set remained close until Illinois Wesleyan went on a 6-1 run. French started the run with a kill, followed by Bardouniotis tooling a block, and an AU miscue before the Spartans could get a sideout. IWU quickly followed, as Harrington and Tellor teamed up for a block after a service error, and a bad set finished the run that saw the Titans leading 16-10. IWU coasted the rest of the way to a 25-18 set victory. 

Similar to the first set, IWU came out hot, taking 10 of the first 12 points to start the second set. Tellor slammed a dish from Feeney to up the lead to 13-4 before AU could begin to claw back at the deficit. Up 18-13, the Titans rattled off four straight via three kills from Tellor and one from sophomore Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park). An attack error set up the set point, and Shannon slammed the second set home with a kill, ending it 25-15. 

After dropping the first two points of the third set, Illinois Wesleyan took the next eight, filled with three aces from French, a kill from Harrington, and Bardouniotis and Palmer pairing up for two blocks, forcing Aurora to burn an early timeout. 

IWU saw a late 6-2 run to secure the set, as a Boyd ace finished off the run that saw the Green and White up 23-12. French fed Tellor to push match point, and Tellor followed two points later with a kill to secure the win behind a dominant 25-15 third set. 

Tellor led the Titan offense with 12 kills, hitting a whopping .632 for the contest. French added 10, followed by Harrington and Bardouniotis with five apiece. Feeney and Erdman orchestrated the attack, finishing with 20 and 12 assists, respectively. French's five aces were a match-high, finishing just shy of her career-best. 

IWU once again saw Boyd lead the defense, as the Mt. Pleasant, Mich., native finished with 15 digs. French accumulated 12, while Tellor totaled five. The trio of Tellor, Bardouniotis, and Palmer led the net defense, each finishing with a pair of blocks. 

The Titans held commanding advantages in every statistical category, posting leads in kills (39-23), assists (36-21), digs (47-41), aces (8-4), and blocks (4-2), while hitting .286 as a squad and limiting the Spartans to a .064 showing.

IWU returns to action Wednesday, Sept. 25, as the Titans travel to Elmhurst University for a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin clash. First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside R.A. Faganel Hall.