Women's Volleyball starting lineup photo

ASHTIN ELDER PHOTO

Women’s Volleyball Set For Season-Opening Tri

Titans host Wartburg & Aurora, Sept. 1

8/31/2026 11:00:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The No. 8 Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team will begin its 2026 season by hosting the IWU Tri, welcoming Wartburg College and Aurora University to the Shirk Center, Tuesday, Sept. 1. The Green and White begin the day against WC at 2 p.m. before squaring off against AU at 6 p.m.

After back-to-back seasons featuring trips to the NCAA Tournament Regional Championship, the reigning College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin regular season and tournament champions return a plethora of talent and welcome new faces ahead of the 2026 slate. Head coach Kim Nelson Brown enters her 31st season at the helm with an overall record of 593-401 (.597), seven wins shy of 600 for her career. Illinois Wesleyan returns four of its program-high seven All-CCIW honorees from a season ago as seniors Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community), and Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) return for their final season along with junior Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North), and second team selection sophomore Lauren O'Brien (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic).

New faces surround the start of a fresh season for the Titans as the 2025 CCIW Coaching Staff of the Year brought in eight newcomers, five freshmen, and three junior college transfers. Ainsley Ellis (Muskego, Wis.-Heritage Christian), Ashlyn Fazio (Pittsburg, Pa.-North Hills Senior), Skyler Lambert (Spring Hill, Tenn.-Summit), Josie Neukomm (Cissna Park, Ill.-Cissna Park), and Ava Schell (Wheaton, Ill.-Wheaton North) make up the freshman class. Libby Detweiler (Downs, Ill.-Tri Valley), Graci Junis (Morton, Ill.-Morton), and Juliana Valdez (Palos Heights, Ill.-Marist) joined the junior class after winning the 2025 NJCAA Division II National Championship with nearby Heartland Community College.

IWU holds a 6-1 mark against Wartburg all-time with the last meeting coming Friday, October 11, 2024. The win boosted the Green and White's winning streak to six in-a-row and saw a historic performance from Taylor French, as she became the eighth player in program history to eclipse 1000 kills and 1000 digs in her career. The Titans and Knights began the series in 2002 with Illinois Wesleyan winning the match in five sets. The two teams have played in Bloomington, Ill. twice but have never met in the Knights' hometown of Waverly, Iowa. Matches have taken place between the two in Elmhurst, Ill., Eau Claire, Wis., St. Louis, Mo., Indianola, Iowa, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the only location where WC has knocked off IWU.

Aurora comes to Bloomington, Ill. for the 13th time and will try to avenge a sweep from the Titans in the teams' last meeting at the Aurora Tri Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. AU and IWU have met 17 times over the years with Tuesday's match being on the 22nd anniversary of the first-ever meeting between the two. Illinois Wesleyan took that match, and the next six, before the Spartans clipped the Titans in 2014. Inside the Shirk Center, IWU holds a 9-3 record against the AU. Out of the 12 wins against the Spartans, the Titans have swept seven of them, and have gone the distance against AU just once.

Information regarding the tri, including links to live stats and the live stream, can be found by clicking here.

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