BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's volleyball team split its IWU Triangular II Saturday Feb. 1. The Titans (7-2) defeated Illinois Institute of Technology in four sets, with scores of 25-22, 23-25, 25-19, 25-21, before falling to Trine University in straight sets (30-28, 25-21, 25-17). 

The match against IIT (0-4) saw Illinois Wesleyan break the four-set kills record, finishing with 62 in the contest. The mark also ties the most in any match in program history. IWU also witnessed sophomore Brenden Reutter (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) make a mark in the record book, as his 32 assists against Illinois Tech tied for the third-most in a match. 

Illinois Wesleyan 3, Illinois Tech 1
The Titans opened the IWU Triangular II with a strong performance against Illinois Tech. As a team, the Green and White held a commanding 62-38 advantage in kills, while hitting .313 to IIT's .181 clip. IWU also held the edge in digs (51-36) and assists (61-36), while each team finished with seven blocks. The Scarlet Hawks finished with the lead in aces, 10-8. 

Sophomore Bryce Williams (Chicago, Ill.-Whitney M. Young) led the team with 16 kills, and freshman Gavin Rohlwing (Tower Lake, Ill.-Barrington) added 12 on a whopping .647 clip. Freshman Trey Marek (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) rounded out the double-digit hitters, as he finished with a career-high 10 kills. 

Reutter stuffed his stat line full in the match, as he led the team with a career-high 32 assists, as well as totaling nine kills, seven digs, three blocks, and a team-best three aces. Senior Vince DiCosola (Aurora, Ill.-Oswego East) was second on the squad in assists, finishing with 19. 

Defensively, Williams led the team in digs with 14, securing his second double-double performance of the week, and of his career. Junior Jace Milka (Bolingbrook, Ill.-Plainfield East) was second with 11, followed by freshman Ben Zima (Glen Ellyn, Ill.-Glenbard South) with a career-best eight digs. Zima also totaled a personal-best two aces in the match. Senior Jake Kougan (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) accrued a team-best five blocks, while Williams and Rohlwing followed Reutter's three with a pair of rejections each. 

Trailing 18-15 in the first set, head coach Brandon Mueller called a timeout that would ultimately help pivot the momentum for the home team. DiCosola fed Reutter and sophomore Patrick Dasbach (Lombard, Ill.-Willowbrook) for back-to-back kills out of the break to bring the set within one, 18-17. After trading points, IWU churned out three straight to jump ahead, via a Rohlwing kill sandwiched by Williams kills, all by way of sets from Reutter, pushing the Titans ahead, 22-21.

Following a sideout from IIT, Reutter found Williams for another kill to spark a late run for the Titans. Freshman Cael Whitchurch (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont) dug a ball up to keep the point alive, and Kougan set up set point with a kill, 24-22, and an attack error gave the first set to the Green and White, 25-22.

After dropping the second set, 25-13, Illinois Wesleyan responded in the third. Marek followed an attack error, burying a set from Milka, to give the Green and White an early, 2-0, advantage. After an IIT sideout, Rohlwing responded with a kill, and Zima aced the Scarlet Hawks to push the score to 4-1. Illinois Tech brought the set within one, 5-4, but the Titans rattled off three straight to pull ahead, via a kill from Rohlwing, another Zima ace, and an IIT miscue, upping the lead to 8-4.

The Scarlet Hawks clawed back into the contest, making it 10-8, before IWU utilized a 5-1 run. DiCosola dished a set to Williams for a kill to kickstart the run, and another attack error for the visitors kept the Green and White moving. DiCosola passed out three straight assists, spreading the love to Rohlwing before hitting Reutter twice to push the score to 15-9. IWU coasted the rest of the set, as Reutter tooled the block, and followed with another kill to secure the third set, 25-19. 

IIT took five straight points to jump ahead 13-10, but the Titans responded with a streak of their own. Reutter followed a service error with an ace, and Rohlwing solo stuffed the next Illinois Tech attack. Reutter set up Dasbach for a kill, and a bad set for the visitors closed the run with a score of 15-13 in favor of the Titans. 

A Kougan kill was followed by a block from him and Reutter, giving the home team a four point cushion, 22-18. Following back-and-forth action, an IIT service error set up match point, and Reutter found Dasbach for a kill to secure the match with a set score of 25-21. 

Illinois Wesleyan 0, Trine 3
The Titans faltered to the Thunder (5-4) to close out the tournament, falling in three sets. Williams and Rohlwing once again led the offense, finishing with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Marek finished third on the team with eight kills, doing so on a .313 attack percentage. Reutter posted a team-leading 21 assists, closely followed by DiCosola's 20. 

Milka totaled a team-high seven digs to lead the defense, while Zima was second with six, and Reutter and Williams each contributed three. Rohlwing notched two blocks, while Reutter assisted on one. 

Despite the Titans holding the lead in kills, 46-36, Trine had the offensive edge in attack percentage, .321-.216. IWU also edged out the Thunder in assists (44-35) and digs (25-24), while TU recorded advantages in blocks (10-2) and had all seven aces in the contest.

The first set saw extra action, as the Titans mounted a late comeback. Facing set point, down 24-20, DiCosola fed Reutter for a kill, followed by a solo block from Rohlwing, another Reutter hammer, this time on an assist from Kougan, and Williams tied it at 24-all with a kill, burying a pass from DiCosola. Trine forced a sideout to push set point again, but the Titans staved it off, and forced a set point of their own behind back-to-back kills from Dasbach and Rohlwing. 

Trine tied the set at 26 apiece, and a Marek kill gave the Green and White a 27-26 advantage, once again looking at a set point, but the Thunder claimed the next two to swing the momentum their way. Marek once again downed a kill to keep the set alive, but the luck of the Titans ran out, as TU took the next two points to win the opening set marathon, 30-28. 

Illinois Wesleyan was never able to find its footing, as playing its fourth match in five days finally caught up to the home team, as the Titans dropped the next two sets, 25-21, 25-17. 

Illinois Wesleyan will continue its home stretch, hosting No. 18 Dominican University Thursday night, Feb. 6. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside Shirk Center.