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Titans celebrating a point
Jimmy Naprstek/Kodiak Creative
0
UC Santa Cruz UCSC 13-8,0-0 CAC
3
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 23-1,8-0 CCIW
UC Santa Cruz UCSC
13-8,0-0 CAC
0
Final
3
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
23-1,8-0 CCIW
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
UC Santa Cruz UCSC 22 17 22 (0)
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 25 25 25 (3)
0
Wis.-Eau Claire UWEC 15-8,3-3 WIAC
3
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 24-1,8-0 CCIW
Wis.-Eau Claire UWEC
15-8,3-3 WIAC
0
Final
3
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
24-1,8-0 CCIW
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Wis.-Eau Claire UWEC 14 22 23 (0)
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Women’s Volleyball Sweeps Halloween Eve at Shirk Center

Titans down UC Santa Cruz & No. 14 UW-Eau Claire


BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - On the first day of its final home tournament, the No. 1 Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team dispatched University of California Santa Cruz and No. 14 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in straight sets Saturday night, Oct. 30, inside the Shirk Center. IWU (24-1) opened the day with a 25-22, 25-17, 25-22 win over the Banana Slugs (13-9) before besting the Blugolds (15-8) by scores of 25-14, 25-22, 25-23. With the pair of wins, the Titans run their win streak to 17 matches.

Game One: Illinois Wesleyan 3, UC Santa Cruz 0

An attack that took time to heat up, ended with a .231 attack percentage for the Green and White. It tallied 43 kills, with 15 of them off the arm of junior Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North). The Titans led in every statistical category, an 8-2 lead in aces, 7-4 advantage in blocks, 41-34 in assists and 55-52 in digs. Bardouniotis' big day included five aces and 14 digs for her 12th double-double of the season for an impressive .429 attack percentage. Assisting the offense, senior Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) led with 19 helpers and sophomore Lauren O'Brien (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic) distributed 17.

The defense held the Banana Slugs to hit .171 with junior Alysa Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill.-IC Catholic) and Bardouniotis leading the squad in digs with 14 a piece. Junior Juliana Valdez (Palos Heights, Ill.-Marist) totaled five rejections while senior Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) was a support wall with four. 

The Titans started off the day trading points with the Banana Slugs, with a kill from Bardouniots tying it 2-2. UCSC maintained an early lead, but kills from senior hitter Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) and junior hitter Graci Junis (Morton, Ill.-Morton) kept IWU in the match. A big block from junior middle Juliana Valdez (Palos Heights, Ill.-Marist) brought the Green and White within one and forced a timeout from Santa Cruz at 11-10. After the break, Bardouniotis took the chance to tie it up with a kill on a free ball. Shannon followed with a tool on UCSC's blocker, giving the Titans their first lead of the match, 12-11. 

UCSC mounted a comeback, but a hitting error slowed them down, 16-14. The Banana Slugs went up one to make it 17-14, but Bardouniotis put down a kill and ace back-to-back to climb back up, 16-17. Senior middle Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) tied it up at 18 apiece with a kill. IWU took a free point off of UCSC and sent them into the huddle to reset, 19-18. 

The timeout only helped the Titans, who went up two with a kill from Bardouniotis and another misfire from the Slugs, 22-20. UCSC tied it up at 22, but after a quick timeout IWU took control. Shannon smacked down a ball from Feeney, sophomore hitter Carly Whitaker (Morton, Ill.-Morton) grabbed a kill, and junior libero Alysa Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill.-IC Catholic Prep) sealed the deal at 25-22 with an ace. 

Illinois Wesleyan's momentum carried into the second, as the home team rattled off a 6-1 run. A serve had the Banana Slugs all discombobulated with Shannon smacking down a Feeney set for the set's first point. Kills by Valdez and Bardouniotis along with a Junis ace gave IWU the early edge. 

Bardouniotis demolished a ball down the line to stretch the lead to five, 8-3, before UCSC called timeout with the score at 10-6. 

The Banana Slugs slid back into the set, pulling within one, but a series of blocks coupled with kills reclaimed a five-point cushion, 17-12. Back-to-back aces by Bardounitios along with points from Whitaker, Junis, and Valdez cue set point, 24-17. Feeney sealed the set with a serve to the back corner for a 25-17 victory.

It was all UC Santa Cruz to begin the third, as Illinois Wesleyan quickly found itself playing from behind, down 6-0. The Titans trailed 12-5 a bit later as Kim Nelson-Brown called a timeout to spark the Green and White. Bardouniotis and Palmer combined for a block before a key dig by Bardouniotis set up a Palmer kill. 

IWU continued to chip away, with Valdez sneaking through for a kill with UCSC readying for a set by Feeney. The kill pulled IWU within two, 16-14, and brought about a timeout by the visitors. Illinois Wesleyan grabbed its first lead of the set courtesy of back-to-back Bardouniotis kills. Feeney and O'Brien kept things balanced from that point on, as Valdez, Bardouniotis, Whitaker, and Palmer registered kills for a 24-21 advantage. A challenge prolonged the match, wiping away match point, but the Titans came right back with a swing from Shannon to put a bow on the sweep, 25-22.

Game Two: Illinois Wesleyan 3, UW-Eau Claire 0

The Titans used a heavy-handed attack to defeat the Blugolds as IWU hit .196 to UWEC's .134 clip. The home team racked up 47 kills to 39 by the visitors with Bardouniotis and Whitaker leading the way. Bardouniotis posted her second double-double of the day with a team-high 15 kills alongside 11 digs, while Whitaker added 11 on a .400 clip. 

Feeney gave out 18 assists and six digs. O'Brien tacked on 13 helpers and held the team-lead with two aces. 

Defensively, Lawton churned out a match-best 30 digs. Her 30 scoops are the most in a three-set match since Ashley Reed posted the same number Sept. 25, 2007. Reed sits at the top of the category with 32 which happened Oct.15, 2005. However, Lawton's performance is the most in a three-set match since the sport changed to 25 point sets in 2008. At the net, Valdez led the team with five blocks, followed closely by Shannon's four. 

The Green and White opened the first set of the match with a dominant 5-0 run, kicked off by an ace from Feeney. The Blugolds never got close after that, and a smackdown by Bardouniotis forced UWEC to call a time out at 8-3. Eau Claire managed to snag one out of the huddle, but the Titans kept climbing with a kill from Valdez, an ace from O'Brien, and a tip from Palmer to force another timeout, 11-4. 

Eau Claire battled back but a kill from Junis shut them down, 16-10. IWU tacked on more points with a one-handed tip from Feeney and two big kills from Whitaker to bolster the lead, 20-12. O'Brien picked up her second ace of the night, and Whitaker closed off the first set with a kill to claim the set, 25-14. 

IWU opened up the second on top again, this time with kills from Shannon and Bardouniotis and a slew of Blugold errors for a 4-1 edge. Consecutive kills from Palmer and Whitaker put the Green and White up by three, while the Blugolds tried to close the gap. A block from Junis and Valdez followed by a Junis kill sent UWEC back on their heels and into a timeout with IWU's lead at 12-6.
 
UWEC rallied within one at 17-16, but Bardouniotis put one down to reignite the Titans. The St. Charles native teamed up with Whitaker and traded kills to go up 22-17. It was back and forth until Valdez and Shannon blocked a Blugold hitter to end the second, 25-22.

The final set was an uphill battle for the most part, with Valdez notching the first two points for IWU to cut the deficit in half, 4-2. The early UW-Eau Clarie advantage stood for most of the set, with the Blugolds charging ahead by as many as five before Illinois Wesleyan's comeback. 

The Titans took the point out of the media timeout and Bardouniotis slammed a kill before a Whitaker block trimmed the Blugolds lead to two, 15-13.

UWEC came face-to-face with a brick wall on a huge block from Palmer followed by a tool from Bardouniotis to tie it up at 16. The Green and White grabbed their first lead of the set at 17-16 off a miscue on the UWEC side after the visitors burned their first timeout. The Titans and Blugolds went point-for-point before Palmer clobbered a kill to break a 20-20 tie. Shannon cut a kill down the right corner to take a 22-20 lead, but UWEC won three of the next four points to knot the set, 23-23. 

The Green and White paused with a timeout, but some words of encouragement and a reset was just what the Titans needed. Feeney fed Bardouniotis for a kill to bring the Shirk Center its feet at match point, 24-23, before the duo teamed back up for another kill, this time tooling the block, to close the sweep, 25-23.

The Green and White are back in action tomorrow in a top-five showdown with No. 4 WashU. First serve of the final match of IWU Tournament III is set for 3 p.m.
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