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Women’s Volleyball Set to Battle Bluejays

Titans travel to Elmhurst for CCIW contest

9/24/2024 4:00:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team is set to take on Elmhurst University in a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin contest Wednesday night, Sept. 25. Action is set to begin at 7 p.m. inside R.A. Faganel Hall.

The Titans (8-5, 1-0 CCIW) enter the match off a split at the Aurora University Triangular, falling to University of Dubuque in five sets before sweeping Aurora to close the weekend. Junior Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) put on a strong offensive performance in both matches. Against Dubuque, Tellor totaled a career-high 15 kills, before posting a team-high 12 kills on a .632 attack percentage against Aurora. Fellow junior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) recorded a career-best 33 digs in the UD contest.

Junior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) leads the Green and White with 200 kills on the season, the 15th-most nationally, as well as ranking 20th across Division III with an average of 4.17 kills per set. Her 238 points and 4.96 points per set rank 12th and 14th, respectively. Tellor leads the conference and sits 25th nationally with a 0.379 attack percentage. She is second on the team in kills with 111, followed by freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) with 94.

The trio of sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community), senior Abby Erdman (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley), and fifth-year Jordan Pierce (Bonfield, Ill.-Herscher) have pieced together the offense all season. Feeney leads IWU with 214 assists, averaging 5.12 per set. Erdman sits second with 155, while Pierce's 119 are third-most on the squad. French's 30 aces are a team-best, while Bardouniotis and Feeney follow with 18 and 16, respectively.

Defensively, Boyd's 167 digs and 4.77 digs per set both lead the Green and White. French is second with 150 digs, averaging 3.13 per set, followed by freshman Alysa Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill.-IC Catholic Prep) with 95 on the season. Sophomore Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) has a team-best 36 blocks, five coming on solo stuffs. Tellor follows with 29, and senior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East) rounds out the top-three with 17 rejections.

IWU and EU (6-5, 0-1 CCIW) have a long history, meeting for the 52nd time since 1994 on Wednesday. The Titans trail 29-22 in the the series, but are the winners of nine of the last 10. Illinois Wesleyan defended its house in the last meeting, escaping with a five-set win Oct. 17, 2023. French put on a monstrous performance, setting the program's points record with 33.5 in the match.She recorded a then-career-high 27 kills on a hefty .368 attacking percentage, while adding 17 digs, four aces, and four blocks in a stat-stuffing showing. Pierce posted a double-double performance with 26 assists and 12 digs. Then-sophomore Raegan Watts (Maroa, Ill.-Maroa Forsyth) led the Green and White with 21 digs.

Links to the live stream, live stats, and tickets can be found on the women's volleyball schedule page on iwusports.com.

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