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Women's volleyball celebrating an ace against Elmhurst Sept. 24, 2025
Sam Okewole
0
Elmhurst ELM 4-12,0-2 CCIW
3
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 12-0,2-0 CCIW
Elmhurst ELM
4-12,0-2 CCIW
0
Final
3
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
12-0,2-0 CCIW
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Elmhurst ELM 9 12 18 (0)
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Serving Prowess Powers Titan to Sweep of Elmhurst

Titans record 15 aces in win

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Aggressive serving by the seventh-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team was too much for Elmhurst University to handle Wednesday night, Sept. 24, inside the Shirk Center. The Titans (12-0, 2-0 CCIW) notched set wins of 25-9, 25-12, and 25-18, en route to the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin sweep of the Bluejays (4-12, 0-2 CCIW).

The Green and White's serving ability set the tone for the match as IWU rattled off 15 aces in the bout. Senior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) and freshman Lauren O'Brien (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic) led the effort, combining for 11. French inched closer to the all-time aces record with six on the night, moving her into second in IWU's career rankings and just three behind Tiffany Hamblin's record of 240.

French led the Titan attack with 13 kills, doing so on a .323 clip, while O'Brien dished out a team-high 13 assists. Junior Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) tacked on 12 helpers. Freshman Carly Whitaker (Morton, Ill.-Morton) and sophomore Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) tallied six kills apiece, with the middle duo of senior Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) and junior Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) tacking on five each.

Defensively, senior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) paced the team with nine digs. Bardouniotis and O'Brien followed with seven each. The net defense was led by Palmer, who notched three stuffs. Junior Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) recorded two rejections in the win as the Titan offense outhit the Bluejays, .275 to .083.

IWU's dominance showed up in the box score, as the Green and White held leads in kills (36-20), aces (15-3), digs (41-38), block (3-2), and assists (29-19).

Illinois Wesleyan catapulted from the jump, rattling off 10 straight points to take control. The 10-point run featured four aces from French to force an EU timeout with the score at 7-0. Kills from Whitaker and Bardouniotis sandwiched a fifth French ace before Elmhurst tallied its first point on a kill to end the run, 10-1.

O'Brien's ace upped the lead to an even dozen, 16-4, before four straight Titan kills extended IWU's stronghold to 23-6. Palmer started the run with a kill on O'Brien's assist. French followed with back-to-back kills on Boyd helpers and Tellor ended the streak with her first kill of the set. 

In an anticlimactic finish to a set that saw the Green and White dominate, a conversation amongst the officials ultimately ended the set, 25-9, in favor of the Titans.

Seven kills on nine swings propelled Illinois Wesleyan out to another strong start in the second set. Back-to-back aces by O'Brien stretched the lead to double digits, 13-3, forcing an Elmhurst timeout. IWU never looked back as Tellor tooled the block to finish the set, 25-12, to put the home team on the verge of its 10th sweep of the season. 

Elmhurst flipped the script on Illinois Wesleyan in the third, soaring ahead 4-1 early. The Titans clawed back to knot the score at seven all with a Bardouniotis ace. EU followed with an attack error to give IWU its first lead of the set, 8-7.

Three kills from French over the course of four points stretched the Titan lead to three, 12-9, but the Bluejays stayed within striking distance. Elmhurst faltered on back-to-back plays to open the door for a Green and White run. Taking advantage of the opportunity, O'Brien aced EU to bring about a timeout with IWU in front, 17-12.

Elmhurst scored the next two points out of the reset, but a pair of attacking errors kept Illinois Wesleyan in control. The Bluejays did their best to slow the Titans with a timeout, but an EU error, O'Brien ace, and Tellor kill gave IWU its largest lead of the set, 23-15. 

Illinois Wesleyan used kills by French and Whitaker to close out the sweep, 25-18.

The Titans hit the road for a pair of top-25 matches Saturday, Sept. 27, in Holland, Mich. IWU will spar with No. 14 Marietta College and weekend host, No. 18 Hope College. The Green and White begin the day with a 10:30 a.m. ET first serve against MC and then finishes the trip with a 1:30 p.m. ET matchup with the Flying Dutch.
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