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2025 Women's Volleyball Senior Day
ASHTIN ELDER PHOTO
1
Juniata JUN 23-5,9-0 Landmark
3
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 23-2,7-0 CCIW
Juniata JUN
23-5,9-0 Landmark
1
Final
3
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
23-2,7-0 CCIW
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Juniata JUN 23 25 20 13 (1)
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 25 20 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Women’s Volleyball Defeats No. 5 Juniata in Four Sets on Senior Day

Titans notch second straight top-five win

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The sixth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team picked up its second straight top-five victory Saturday, Nov. 1, as part of the IWU Tournament III inside the Shirk Center. The Titans (23-2) downed reigning national champion Juniata College by set scores of 25-23, 20-25, 25-20, and 25-13 on Senior Day. 

The win came on the heels of IWU's three-set victory over third-ranked University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Meanwhile, Juniata (23-5), which lost to Millikin one day prior and UWO earlier in the day, dropped its third straight match for the first time since September of 2019.

IWU began the contest by honoring its four seniors, Raegan Watts (Forsyth, Ill.-Maroa Forsyth), Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East), Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township), and Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant). Sophomore Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) racked up 15 kills on 27 swings, good for a .519 clip, while chipping in seven digs, two assists, and a pair of aces. French notched a team-high 21 kills in the contest. She also turned in three aces, the team-high, and seven digs.  

The efforts in both matches this weekend landed French, Boyd, and Tellor on the IWU Tournament III All-Tournament Team.

To go along with French and Bardouniotis, junior Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) and freshman Carly Whitaker (Morton, Ill.-Morton) each notched eight kills, as the freshman was perfect with a .615 clip behind no miscues. 

Orchestrating the balanced offense, junior Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) finished with a team-best 25 assists, while freshman Lauren O'Brien (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic) added 19 helpers. 

Defensively, Boyd came up big, finishing with a match-high 23 digs. One of the biggest stat lines of the contest came from junior Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) and Palmer finishing with five blocks each, with several coming in crucial moments of the match. The five rejections is a new career-high for Shannon. 

The match lived up to its billing, beginning with a tight first set. Whitaker slammed down a kill for IWU's first point of the day and sparked a four-point Titan run. Bardinoutis' kill and an ace from French doubled up the Eagles, 4-2. 

Kills from French later tied the second at nine, 10, and 11, before Tellor's serve got Juniata off-balanced. Taking full advantage, Palmer notched a gnarly kill and Whitaker followed with a tool to push IWU ahead, 14-12.

JC battled to level the score at 19 and then used a run of its own to force an Illinois Wesleyan timeout with the home team trailing, 22-20. French found the line out of the reset to slow Juniata and spark the Green and White. Bardounitios painted the back corner before tooling a block to knot the set at 23 into a JC timeout. The pause did little to slow the Titans, as Tellor dialed up an ace. Moments later, the senior middle blocker came up with a diving dig to set up Bardouniotis' set-clinching kill.

Juniata knotted the match at one set apiece, taking set two by a score of 25-20. Illinois Wesleyan led by three after Shannon set French for a kill, but the Eagles rebounded to take the lead and eventually the set.

The Green and White battled through the first half of the set before Tellor and Bardounitios smashed back-to-back kills for an 18-16 IWU advantage. The Eagles called a timeout, but the Titans came right back with a Shannon-Palmer stuff to extend their lead, 20-17. After Palmer tipped a kill over the block and Bardouniotis' ace maintained a three-point edge, 22-19, Juniata burned its second and final timeout of the set.

French roped a ball down for a kill and Tellor tipped one over the block, rendering the regrouping session ineffective, as the home team had set point, 24-20. Boyd found French for a kill out of system to seal the win, 25-20, in favor of the Green and White.

IWU jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the fourth as Palmer's solo stuff gave the Titans control right away. JC pulled back within one, but French put an end to that with a kill to give the home team a 7-5 edge.

An incredible dig from Boyd cued a Bardouniotis kill and French followed with an ace to bring about a Juniata timeout as the Eagles searched for answers with the Titans in control, 11-6. 

There was no looking back from there, as the Green and White stunned the Eagles with a 25-13 set four victory. 

IWU won the offensive battle, finishing with the edge in kills (63-52), while hitting .293 on the afternoon, but it was the service pressure that the Titans dominated in, finishing with a 10-2 advantage in aces. The Green and White also pulled out the lead in assists (54-49), and digs (56-54), while Juniata ended with a slim 8-6 upper hand in blocks. 

Illinois Wesleyan eyes its regular season finale as the Titans host Augustana College in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play Wednesday night, Nov. 5. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
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