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Men's volleyball celebrates a point against Rockford Jan. 27, 2026
ASHTIN ELDER PHOTO
0
Rockford Rock 0-1,0-0 NACC
3
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 6-2,0-0 CCIW
Rockford Rock
0-1,0-0 NACC
0
Final
3
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
6-2,0-0 CCIW
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Rockford Rock 14 22 15 (0)
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball |

Titans Rout Rockford in Straight Sets

IWU jumps to 6-2

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's volleyball team topped Rockford University in three sets Tuesday night, Jan. 27, inside the Shirk Center. The Titans advanced to 6-2 on the season by set scores of 25-14, 25-22, and 25-15 while Rockford slid to 0-1.

Freshman Aydin Provost (Chicago, Ill.-Mount Carmel) paced the Green and White with eight kills on nine swings without an error. He added two blocks. Sophomore Ethan Kuziela (Chicago, Ill.-Marist) posted seven kills with a team-high 16 assists. He also tied for the team lead with three blocks. Sophomore Ben Zima (Glen Ellyn, Ill.-Glenbard South) topped the team with six digs.

Illinois Wesleyan dominated the match, hitting .378 as a team with 38 kills on 74 swings with just 10 errors. Rockford was held to a .056 clip with 25 kills and 21 errors in 72 attempts. IWU finished with 10.5 blocks for the match, led by Kuziela and sophomore Wilson Spaulding (Tucson, Ariz.-Catalina Foothills) with three apiece. The Titans also led in assists (33-25) and aces (7-1), while the Regents racked up a 24-22 edge in digs.

Illinois Wesleyan took the first two points on a freshman Dylan Quinn (Downers Grove, Ill.-Downers Grove North) kill and a Kuziela ace. The Titans held a three-point cushion before a four-point spurt forced a Regents timeout. Quinn kickstarted the run with a kill and Provost followed with one of his own to stretch the lead to four, 11-7. A diving dig by Zima saved a rally and ultimately resulted in an RU attacking error before Provost and Quinn teamed up for a block. The stuff at the net upped the Green and White's lead to six, 13-7, ahead of a timeout by the visitors.

The reset did little to slow down IWU, as the home team rolled, 25-14, with Provost slamming down an overpass to secure the opening-set win.  

The Titans dug their way out of a 3-0 hole in the second set. With RU inching ahead, Kuziela set senior Jace Milka (Bolingbrook, Ill.-Plainfield East) for a kill to cut the deficit to 6-3. The kill proved to be the first of four straight points for the Green and White, with a junior Ethan Keutzer (St. Louis, Mo.-St. Louis University High) ace, Kuziela-Bialek block, and Rockford error knotting the score at six all.

The Regents registered the next point to reclaim the lead, 7-6, but a Kuziela kill and Milka ace sandwiched an RU miscue to push IWU in front, 9-7. Rockford battled back to tie the match several times as service errors stalled Illinois Wesleyan's momentum until a bad serve by the Regents put the Titans back on track. The Green and White capitalized with back-to-back blocks by  sophomore Dylan McKeon (Chicago, Ill.-St. Laurence) after another RU error to take control, 19-16.

Kuziela smashed a ball off the Regents tongue set point and RU's second timeout of the set with the Titans leading, 24-22. With Milka at the service line, Rockford nearly pulled a fast one on a dump over the net, but Zima made yet another outstanding dig to keep the rally alive. The pancake paved the way for a set-clinching kill by McKeon off a set from Keutzer.

Leading two sets to none, the Green and White showed no signs of relenting. IWU quickly doubled up RU, 8-4. One kill from Spaulding and two from Kuziela extended the lead to 13-7. 

Freshman Stan Peck (Elmhurst, Ill.-York Community) dialed up a kill and then stuffed the Regents alongside sophomore Lane Sunley (Flossmoor, Ill.-Homewood Flossmoor). A Dasbach ace capped the three-point run and gave IWU an eight-point cushion. 

After a rejection from freshman Bram Eggen (Geneva, Ill.-Marmion Academy) and Spaulding, Keutzer aced the Regents for a double-digit lead, 22-12. A Rockford error put the Titans in the doorstep, 24-15, and Dasbach polished off the sweep with a kill to secure the set, 25-15.

Illinois Wesleyan travels to Crawfordsville, Ind. for a triangular at Wabash College Saturday, Jan. 31. There, IWU will face Maranatha Baptist at 11 a.m. ET before taking on the host Little Giants at 1 p.m. ET.
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