Senior Day Highlights Saturday’s Women’s Volleyball Match With Westminster

Titans wrap regular season at 3 p.m.

11/6/2026 10:00:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The No. 2 Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team celebrates Senior Day at the Shirk Center Saturday, Nov. 7 to put a stamp on the regular season against Westminster College. The senior celebration is set for 3 p.m. with first serve shortly after. With a win, the Titans would post the most regular season wins (25) under the direction of Kim Nelson-Brown and most since 1989. In light of family weekend at Illinois Wesleyan, all admission into the match will be free.

The Green and White will celebrate five seniors Saturday in Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community), Mallory Monahan (Champaign, Ill.-Saint Thomas More), Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep), Paige Peterson (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic), and Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park). Together, the group has been a part of 93 wins and have accumulated a 29-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin record with two NCAA Tournament appearances and CCIW Regular Season titles. The group has a chance to win its third conference tournament championship in as many years next week, starting Thursday, Nov. 12.

Illinois Wesleyan comes into the 28th and final match of the regular season with a 24-3 record, trying to erase a two-game skid. Before dropping back-to-back matches against No. 4 WashU and No. 17 UChicago in the past week, IWU hadn't lost consecutive matches since the 2024 season when it fell to No. 21 UChicago Nov. 6 and Centre Nov. 7. That year, the Titans went on to finish the regular season with a win on Senior Day before rolling through the CCIW Tournament, and making it to the Regional Championship of the NCAA Tournament.

Feeney has been dishing out assists left and right all season, but has impressed in the last week. She dished out her second 30+ assist performance of the season with 31 against UC and fifth of her career. Finding herself involved on the defensive side as well, Feeney tallied back-to-back double-doubles with 14 and 10 digs. Her setting counterpart, sophomore Lauren O'Brien (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic), has 419 assists on the season and 4.60 per set. Feeney leads the squad with 576 assists for 5.82 per set. The Titans, led by Feeney and O'Brien, sit just outside the top-five in assists per set nationally at 12.46.

The Green and White attack continues to rank at the top of the nation in kills per set at seventh with 13.51. Junior Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St, Charles North) leads with 4.09 kills per set and 335 strikes. Sophomore Carly Whitaker (Morton, Ill.-Morton) and Shannon trail her with 2.44 and 2.02 kills per set, respectively. Whitaker leads the trio in attack percentage at .288, while Shannon posts a .255, and Bardouniotis is attacking a .194. Junior Juliana Valdez (Palos Heights, Ill.-Marist) tops the team in attack percentage at .299 with 139 kills in 341 attacks.

Defensively, junior Alysa Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill.-IC Catholic Prep) continues to hold down the back row with 4.85 per set, good enough for 18th nationally. She's tallied 131 scoops this season to lead the squad while junior Graci Junis (Morton, Ill.-Morton) follows with 105. Valdez and Palmer pace the blocking category as Valdez leads with 23 compared to Palmer's 16.

The Titans and Blue Jays reignite a series that hasn't seen action since 2002. That match is the only one between the two with the Green and White sweeping WC in Bloomington. Beth Crowley led the attack with 12 kills in the 30-point set. Christine Konopasek followed with 11. Taryn Hamblin collected a double-double with 26 assists and 16 digs. Westminster travels to Illinois Wesleyan with a 19-9 mark. WC has found success in conference play, but outside of it, it holds a 9-7 mark with a win over then-ranked La Verne. Most recently, Westminster was swept by Greenville, who IWU bested 3-1 back in September.

Live stats and a live stream of the regular season finale will be available through iwusports.com. Senior Day festivities are set for 3 p.m. with action set to start shortly after.

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