Ben Zima celebrating a point with Vince DiCosola against CUW Jan. 16, 2025

Men’s Volleyball Hosts Second of Three Home Triangulars

Titans welcome Illinois Tech and Trine to the Shirk Center

1/31/2025 12:09:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's volleyball team hosts its second of three home triangulars Saturday, Feb. 1. The IWU Triangular II will feature Illinois Institute of Technology and Trine University alongside the Titans (6-1). IWU will face IIT (0-3) at 11 a.m. to kick off the tournament before concluding the day against Trine (3-4) at 4 p.m., with a neutral site contest between the two visiting teams at 1:30 p.m.

The Titans enter the weekend off a sweep over Concordia University Chicago Thursday night, Jan. 30, extending their program-best start. The match saw the Green and White break the program's block record for a three-set match, finishing with 12. Freshman Gavin Rohlwing (Tower Lake, Ill.-Barrington) also rewrote the record book, as he notched a career-high nine blocks, the most in a three-set match, and second-most in any contest in program history. Fellow freshman Trey Marek (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) led the offense with eight kills, while sophomore Patrick Dasbach (Lombard, Ill.-Willowbrook) had seven on an impressive .417 attack percentage. Sophomores Brenden Reutter (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) and Bryce Williams (Chicago, Ill.-Whitney M. Young) led the team with 18 assists and eight digs, respectively.

Illinois Wesleyan's offense has seen Rohlwing lead the team in kills, totaling 47 for an average of 2.04 per set on an efficient .345 clip. Williams is second with 40 kills, averaging 2.50 per set, while senior Ryan Myers (Hawthorn Woods, Ill.-Stevenson) is third with 30. Williams and Reutter have team-highs of seven aces, followed by five from Rohlwing, Myers, and freshman Ethan Kuziela (Chicago, Ill.-Marist).

The duo of senior Vince DiCosola (Aurora, Ill.-Oswego East) and Reutter have been the masterminds behind the majority of the Titan offense that is hitting .219 as a team this season. DiCosola's 98 assists lead the team, averaging 4.08 per set, while Reutter closely trails with 90, an average of 3.45 per set. Kuziela rounds out the top-three with 21 assists on the season.

A heavy net presence this season has helped IWU limit its opponents to a .128 attack percentage. The Titans rank seventh nationally in blocks per set, and lead the loaded College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, with an average of 2.48. Leading the brick wall is Rohlwing with 27 rejections in his first season. The freshman sits 13th nationally and leads the CCIW with an average of 1.17 blocks per set. Senior Jake Kougan (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) is second with 16, averaging one per set, followed by 15 stuffs from Reutter. Junior Jace Milka (Bolingbrook, Ill.-Plainfield East) leads the back row with 51 digs, an average of 2.04 per set. Williams and Myers are tied for second with 31 on the year.

IWU will face IIT for the third time, with the record split at 1-1. The Titans took the last meeting in five sets Feb. 6, 2024, led by 13 kills from Williams and now-assistant coach Mike Eastman. The match also saw Reutter and DiCosola dish out 25 and 21 assists, respectively, and Milka posted a team-leading 18 digs. The Scarlet Hawks most recently fell to NAIA Judson University in four sets Tuesday, Jan. 28.

The Titans will take on Trine for just the second time, with the inaugural match coming on Feb. 3, 2024. The Green and White fell in four sets to TU inside Shirk Center. Eastman and Williams also posted 13 kills apiece in this match to lead the offense. Eastman finished with 17 digs en route to a career-high and broke the program's record for digs in a four-set match. Trine comes to town off a five-set win over Wisconsin Lutheran College Saturday, Jan. 25.

All three matches will be live streamed with Kaylee Unruh and women's volleyball player Alex Bardouniotis on the air, all of which can be accessed by clicking here. Live stats can be tracked here.

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