Women's volleyball starters during anthem against Wittenberg Sept. 22, 2025

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Women’s Volleyball Hosts Elmhurst for CCIW Clash

Titans face Bluejays at 7 p.m.

9/22/2025 1:33:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The No. 10 Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team welcomes Elmhurst University for a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin contest Wednesday night, Sept. 24. Action is set to begin at 7 p.m. inside Shirk Center.

The Titans look to continue their best start in program history, as they enter the match with a perfect 11-0 overall record, and are 1-0 in CCIW contests. Illinois Wesleyan most recently defeated Coe College in four sets Saturday night, Sept. 20. Senior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) led the offense with 17 kills on a .317 clip, and added 13 digs to complete the double-double performance. Junior Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) finished with a team-high 25 assists, while senior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) guided the defense with 24 digs. Holding the Kohawks to a .166 attack percentage, junior Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) notched a match-high four blocks.

Illinois Wesleyan's offense has seen high-level production out of multiple players this season, as the Titans are second in the nation in kills per set with an average of 13.94. Leading the way is French with 149 kills, an average of 4.14 per set which ranks 26th in Division III and is the best in the CCIW. Sophomore Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) is second with 104 kills, averaging 2.89 per set. Senior Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) rounds out the top-three with 73 kills, an average of 2.03 per set, hitting an impressive .315. French also leads the team in points with 176, while her average of 4.89 per set is the 15th-best across the country. She has 1,913.5 career points to her name, and is nearing the program record of 1,955.5, held by now-assistant coach Tyler White (nee Brown).

Producing strong pressure at the service line, French leads the team in aces with 22. She is nearing the career record for the stat category, held by Tiffany Hamblin with 240 from 1999-2002, as French has accumulated 231. Bardouniotis ranks second with 19 aces, followed closely by freshman Lauren O'Brien (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic) with 18. O'Brien and Feeney have split setting duties to piece together the productive offense. Feeney sits slightly ahead with 202 assists, averaging 5.61 per set, while O'Brien is second with 183, an average of 5.08.

Defensively, Boyd leads the team in digs with 149, averaging 4.66 per set. Bardouniotis follows with 113, an average of 3.14 per set, while French adds 104. At the net, Tellor has tallied a team-high 27 blocks, while Palmer and junior Cailin Shannon (Lake Park, Ill.-Bloomingdale) are second and third with 23 and 15 blocks, respectively.

IWU and Elmhurst (4-11, 0-1 CCIW) have a lengthy history dating back to 1994. The Bluejays hold a 29-23 edge in the series all-time, but the Green and White has dominated in recent history, winning 10 of the last 11 meetings. A season ago, the Titans swept EU on the road, led by 10 kills from French and a four-ace performance from Bardouniotis. Elmhurst most recently dropped a five-set contest to Lawrence University Saturday, Sept. 20.

The match will be live streamed, which can be found here, and live stats can be followed along by clicking here.

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