Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content
2025 Women's Volleyball CCIW Tournament Champions
Kodiak Creative
0
Carthage CARTH 21-12,5-3 CCIW
3
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 26-2,8-0 CCIW
Carthage CARTH
21-12,5-3 CCIW
0
Final
3
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
26-2,8-0 CCIW
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Carthage CARTH 20 23 18 (0)
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Back-to-Back: Women’s Volleyball Repeats as CCIW Tournament Champions

Titans win two straight tournament titles for first time in program history

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team swept Carthage College in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament Championship to win its second straight title and punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Behind set scores of 25-20, 25-23, and 25-18, the Titans (26-2) secured back-to-back tournament championships for the first time in history, and won their fifth overall. It is also the third time IWU has gone undefeated in conference play, having done so in 2018 and 2024. 

Senior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) led the Titan attack with 12 kills on a .286 clip, while sophomore Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) and senior Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) chipped in nine and eight kills, respectively. Junior Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) and freshman Lauren O'Brien (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic) orchestrated the attack, with Feeney notching a match-high 19 assists, and O'Brien added 10. 

Defensively, senior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) tied for the match lead with 10 digs. French and Bardouniotis tacked on seven apiece as IWU matched Carthage in digs, 40-40. The Firebirds scored a 12-6 lead in blocks, with Bardouniotis pacing the Green and White with three. Junior Hailey Rak (Lockport, Ill.-Lockport Township), Tellor, and junior Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) contributed two rejections each.

Overall, the Green and White held a 41-31 advantage in kills and hit .210 to Carthage's .207 clip. The Titans finished with a 6-4 lead in aces and a 36-30 advantage in assists. 

Tellor found an opening in the middle to break a 7-7 tie and then teamed up with freshman Carly Whitaker (Morton, Ill.-Morton) for a stuff to give IWU a two-point edge, 9-7. French and Tellor came up with a block moments later before Bardouniotis demolished a ball for a 12-8 lead to force a Carthage timeout. 

Illinois Wesleyan maintained the lead from that point on as Tellor dialed up a kill to stall a Firebird run, 20-18. Bardounitios slammed down a kill to drive the lead to three, 21-18, and cue a second CC timeout. Out of the reset, Whitaker notched a kill, French registered an ace, and Tellor tipped one over a block to give the Titans set point, 24-20. A back-and-forth rally saw Feeney set French in the back row to take the set, 25-20.

The Titans put on a tremendous display of grit in the second set to go up two sets to none. After trailing by as many as four, Bardouniotis and French recorded back-to-back kills to pull IWU within one. A Carthage error tied it and brought about a timeout by the visitors.

The reset did nothing to disrupt Illinois Wesleyan's momentum as Rak and Bardouniotis came out of the timeout with a block. An ace from Tellor flipped the script and pushed the Titans ahead, 14-12.

Carthage clawed back to knot the set at 18 before grabbing a 23-21 lead with IWU out of timeouts. 

Bardouniotis put the Titans back on track with a kill and then notched a block alongside Rak to tie the set at 23. An untimely error by the Firebirds gave IWU a slim 24-23 lead, and Bardouniotis finished off the come-from-behind triumph with a kill on an over ball to seal it, 25-23.

The third set was all Green and White as the home team flew out to a 9-2 lead. Carthage cut it to one, 13-12, but Illinois Wesleyan pulled away in the late goings to take the set, 25-18.

The third-ranked Titans will now await the NCAA Division III women's volleyball selection show to learn their path in the postseason. The show is scheduled for Monday, November 17 at 1 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.
Print Friendly Version