BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Enjoying its first of three home triangulars, the Illinois Wesleyan University men's volleyball team took two wins at the IWU Triangular I Saturday, Jan. 18. The Titans swept the University of Olivet, 25-11, 25-14, 25-18, before downing Lakeland University in four sets to conclude the weekend, winning with set scores of 25-15, 22-25, 25-19, 25-18. IWU improves to 3-0 on the young season, tying the program's best start set a season ago. 

IWU 3, Olivet 0
The Titans quickly took care of business in the first match, wasting no time, as IWU swept Olivet (0-1) in 75 minutes. As a team, Illinois Wesleyan recorded 33 kills on an impressive .342 attack percentage, while limiting the Comets to 17 kills on an even zero clip. The Green and White also held advantages in digs (33-27), assists (25-16), aces (9-3), and blocks (8-1). 

Making his collegiate debut, freshman Trey Marek (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) led the offense with seven kills on a whopping .462 attack percentage. Senior Luke Hartke (Barrington, Ill.-Barrington) and freshman Gavin Rohlwing (Tower Lake, Ill.-Barrington) each posted four kills, both hitting above .350 in the contest. Marek also led the team in aces, totaling three, while fellow freshman Ethan Kuziela (Chicago, Ill.-Marist) added a pair. 

All five setters saw action in the match, with sophomore Brenden Reutter (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) and freshman Cael Whitchurch (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont) leading the way with five assists. The trio of Kuziela, senior Vince DiCosola (Aurora, Ill.-Oswego East), and sophomore Ethan Keutzer (St. Louis, Mo.-St. Louis University High) each finished with four. 

Defensively, junior Jace Milka (Bolingbrook, Ill.-Plainfield East) totaled a team-high five digs. Freshman Ben Zima (Glen Ellyn, Ill.-Glenbard South) and Marek finished tied for second on the team with four apiece. Also making his collegiate debut, freshman Lane Sunley (Flossmoor, Ill.-Homewood Flossmoor) tied for the team-high in blocks with three, two coming from solo stuffs. Senior Jake Kougan (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) also registered three rejections in the match, while Reutter added two.

IWU took control of the match from the beginning, opening on a 9-0 run. Following a Comets error, Reutter and Rohlwing teamed up for a block, Myers buried a set from Kuziela, and Kuziela followed with an ace to force Olivet to use an early timeout, as the Titans were up 5-0.

Out of the timeout, Rohlwing buried back-to-back over passes, Reutter laced a kill, and Kuziela notched his second ace in the run to up the lead to nine. After chipping away at the deficit, IWU rattled off seven straight points to take a commanding, 21-6, lead. The run featured kills from Kuziela, Kougan, and sophomore Patrick Dasbach (Lombard, Ill.-Willowbrook), as well as an ace from Reutter in the mix. IWU coasted the rest of the way, taking the first set, 25-11.

Following a service error to start the second set, Marek made the most of his first career swing, as he downed a ball sent over early, putting IWU up 2-0. A few points later, Whitchurch found Marek for a kill to tie the set at three apiece, marking Whitchurch's first collegiate assist. With the score even at six, Marek collected his first ace, as he roped one into the UO defense. Whitchurch followed shortly after with his first career kill, as he caught the defense off guard to push the Titans ahead, 12-9.

With the set within a point, 13-12, in favor of the home team, Illinois Wesleyan closed the second set on a 14-2 run to easily go ahead two sets to none. The run saw a few more firsts for the Titans, as freshmen Daniel Overstreet (Oswego, Ill.-Oswego) and Wilson Spaulding (Tuscon, Ariz.-Catalina Foothills) made their collegiate debuts. Overstreet picked up his first career kill, downing a set from DiCosola. Sunley and Overstreet combined to net their first career block together, rejecting an attack from the Comets to close the second set, 25-14.

Closing out the string of debuts, freshmen Charlie Bialek (Bolingbrook, Ill.-Bolingbrook) and Dylan McKeon (Chicago, Ill.-St. Laurence) checked in for the first time, getting the start in the third set. Picking up his first dig, McKeon's touch led to a kill from junior Hayden Warfield (Dakar, Senegal-Dakar Academy), who downed a set from Keutzer, evening the score at three. Hartke buried a ball sent over prematurely, and Sunley followed with a solo stuff to push IWU head, 6-4. The Titans never trailed the rest of the way, cruising to a 25-18 set three win to secure the sweep.

Illinois Wesleyan 3, Lakeland 1
Saving the most exciting match of the tournament for last, IWU pulled out a four-set victory over Lakeland (1-2) to finish the weekend at home. All tied at five, Kougan and Myers teamed up for an electric block to give the Green and White a 6-5 edge early. 

Trailing 8-6 following a small Muskies run, the Titans took the next 11 points amid a service run from Kougan. Kuziela kicked it off with a kill, and followed back-to-back LU attack errors by roping one down the line, putting IWU ahead 10-8. Rohlwing solo blocked the next Muskies attack, forcing the visitors to call timeout. The break did little to stop the Green and White, as Kougan notched an ace out of the break, and two Muskies miscues were followed by a block from Kuziela and Rohlwing, causing Lakeland to burn its final timeout of the set, as the score stood at 17-8 in favor of the Titans. The deficit would be too much for Lakeland to overcome, as IWU took the first set in commanding fashion, 25-15. 

After dropping the second set, 25-22, Illinois Wesleyan responded in the third. Sophomore Bryce Williams (Chicago, Ill.-Whitney M. Young) downed a dish from DiCosola to open the third set for the home team. Trailing 9-5 early, IWU chipped away to come back, as Kuziela fed Williams and Kougan for back-to-back aces to level the score at 10, before finding Reutter for a kill to give the Green and White an 11-10 lead. 

The Titans never trailed the rest of the way, as they closed out the set with three straight points via a service ace, a solo block from Kougan, and an ace from Reutter to take the set, 25-19. 

Holding a slim, 8-7, lead in the fourth, Illinois Wesleyan took control of the set from that point on, using an eight-point run to its advantage. Williams followed a few LU errors with three straight aces, propelling all of the momentum to the home team, and Kougan followed another error with a kill to cap off the run, pushing the Titans ahead, 16-7. 

Myers set up match point by smashing a kill from the back row, and after the Muskies staved off three straight match points, a service error ended the set, and the match, 25-18.

Kuziela's nine kills were a team-high, doing so on a .421 attack percentage. Williams followed with seven, and Rohlwing had six. Williams led the team with a trio of aces, while four Titans finished with one. DiCosola totaled 15 assists, while Kuziela and Reutter added eight and seven, respectively. 

On the defensive end, DiCosola paced the team with eight digs, closely followed by Milka's seven, and the trio of Kuziela, Myers, and Kougan finished with six. Kougan, Williams, and Rohlwing all finished with three blocks, with each recording one solo and two blocks.

IWU held slim advantages in kills (37-36), digs (42-41), and blocks (7-6), while LU had the edge in aces (8-7), and assists (34-32), but it was the difference in attack percentage that helped the Titans prevail. Hitting .200 in the match, the Green and White defense limited the Muskies to a .044 attack percentage to help secure the win.

The Titans will take their first road trip of the season, as they head to Rockford University Tuesday night, Jan. 21. Action is set to begin at 7 p.m. A link to the live stream and live stats can be found on the IWU men's volleyball schedule page on iwusports.com.