AVCA Release
LEXINGTON, Ky. - For the first time in program history, the Illinois Wesleyan University men's volleyball team earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Player of the Week Tuesday, Feb. 11. A day removed from earning his first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Setter of the Week honor, sophomore Brenden Reutter (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) earned the prestigious accolade after a phenomenal week of play. It marks the first AVCA award of any kind for the program, and the first national weekly award for the Green and White.
Reutter was also named to the FrogJump Team of the Week. He represented the setters, and earned the honor alongside Alex Kagoro (Messiah, outside hitter), Logan Smith (Elizabethtown, outside hitter), Chris Rouleau (Springfield, middle blocker), Gavin Akoto (Vassar, middle blocker), Jared Piontkowski (Misericordia, opposite), and Peyton Koszelak (Mount Union, libero). He becomes the first Titan to receive the team of the week honor as well.
Reutter put together one of the best weeks in program history for the Titans, helping orchestrate the offense to a 2-1 week and IWU's first win over a ranked opponent. The week saw the sophomore record the program's first-ever triple-double performance, doing so against No. 19 Dominican University Thursday, Feb. 6, before doing it again just one match later against Benedictine University Sunday, Feb. 9. Reutter is now the only player in Division III with two triple-double performances this season. For the week, Reutter recorded 75 assists, an average of five per set, 30 kills for an average of two per set on a .396 attack percentage, 40 digs, averaging 2.67 per set, six blocks, and five aces.
The sophomore started the week with a then-career-best 10 kills on a whopping .438 clip, 25 assists, and a career-high 21 digs, and an ace, leading the Titans to the win over Dominican Thursday, Feb. 6. The 21 digs are the second-most in a match in program history. Reutter followed the performance with a 28-assist, 11-kill, 12-dig triple-double performance against Benedictine University Sunday, Feb. 9, as well as logging a career-high five blocks. Reutter finished the week with 22 assists, nine kills, seven digs, three aces, and a block in the five-set victory over Wabash College Sunday night.
Reutter and the Titans head east to take part in the Morgan Classic, hosted by Springfield College Friday-Saturday, Feb. 14-15. The trip will see the Titans take on Arcadia University Friday night, Feb. 14, before facing either No. 7 Springfield or No. 1 NYU Saturday, Feb. 15. The East Coast adventure will also see IWU head coach Brandon Mueller, a 2018 Hall of Fame inductee, make his return to his alma mater where he won two National Championships.
