French and Lawton Named CCIW Players of the Week

French named offensive, Lawton earns defensive honor

9/8/2025 3:01:00 PM

CCIW Release

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - After three sweeps over the weekend, the No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team saw two players reel in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Player of the Week honors, announced by the organization Monday, Sept. 8. Senior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) was named the CCIW Hitter of the Week, while sophomore Alysa Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill.-IC Catholic Prep) garnered CCIW Defensive Player of the Week honors. The two helped guide the Green and White to three wins at the Southwestern University Invitational Friday-Saturday, Sept. 5-6, pushing IWU to 6-0 on the season, the best start in program history.

French earns her 10th CCIW Hitter of the Week honor, having last earned the accolade Oct. 7, 2024. Lawton collects her second weekly award, notching her first Sept. 17, 2024. The two join senior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) as Titans to receive the conference honor, as Boyd was named the CCIW Defensive Player of the Week Sept. 2. It is IWU's first multi-awardee week since Oct. 7, 2024, when the Titans swept all three honors. French was the league's hitter of the week, while Body earned defensive honors, and then-sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) got the nod as setter of the week.

Named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, French accumulated 36 kills on a .276 attack percentage, an average of 4.00 kills per set, along with six aces, an average of 0.67 per set, 30 digs, averaging 3.33 per set, and a block. The senior contributed 42.5 points for the Titans over nine sets played, an impressive average of 4.72 per set, and finished each match hitting well north of .200.

Starting the week off strong, French paced the IWU offense with nine kills on a .296 clip, committing just one error on 27 attacks, along with nine digs in the sweep of Texas Lutheran University Friday, Sept. 5. The Romeoville, Ill. native also helped lead the strong service for the Titans in the match, finishing with five aces in a contest that saw IWU put up 18 total aces, tied for the most in a three-set match in program history, and tied for second-most all time. French followed up the strong showing with a 17-kill, 13-dig double-double performance in the three-set win over University of Puget Sound Saturday, Sept. 16, finishing with a .268 clip along with a block. Closing out the trip to Texas, French posted 10 kills on a .267 attack percentage, eight digs, and an ace in the sweep of Southwestern Saturday afternoon.

Appearing in seven sets for the week, Lawton totaled 38 digs, an impressive average of 5.43 per set, and five assists, while IWU finished the tournament hitting .240 and limiting its opponents to a .130 attack percentage.

After only appearing in one set, recording one dig, in the sweep of Texas Lutheran University Friday, Sept. 5, Lawton stepped in and took over as Illinois Wesleyan's libero in the two matches Saturday, Sept. 6. The sophomore finished with 18 digs and three assists to lead the Titans to a sweep of University of Puget Sound to begin the day. Taking on Southwestern, Lawton notched 19 digs and two assists in the sweep of the home team to close out the week.

Illinois Wesleyan returns to the court Wednesday night, Sept. 10, traveling to DePauw University for a 7 p.m. ET contest. Links to the live stream and live stats can be found here.

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