RICHMOND, Ind. - The No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team split two matches at the Dr. Bill Brandes Memorial Invitational hosted by Earlham College. The Titans defeated Austin College in the first match of the day with set scores of (25-22, 25-19, 23-25, 25-15) and dropped their first match of the season against Centre College (22-25, 25-23, 17-25, 23-25). IWU moves to 7-1, while AC dips to 6-3, and Centre stays unbeaten at 6-0.
With the win against Austin, head coach Kim Nelson-Brown won her 600th game at the helm of Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball, She is the third head coach in Illinois Wesleyan University to win 600 games, joining Dennis Martel (baseball) and Dennie Bridges (men's basketball). Furthermore, she is the fourth female head coach across all sports in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin history to reach the mark.
Match One: Illinois Wesleyan 3, Austin 1
In the four set match against the Kangaroos, the Titans hit .225 with its best set coming in the fourth. IWU tallied 56 kills with the defense tallying 63 digs and nine digs. Senior Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) led the attack with eight kills at .353 clip. Freshman Josie Neukomm (Cissna Park, Ill.-Cissna Park) saw action in the thriller with eight kills in three sets. Fellow freshman Ainsley Ellis (Muskego, Wis.-Heritage Christian) carded a career-high 20 assists to lead the match with senior Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) on her heels with 17.
A tightly contested first set began with a Feeney dump to open the scoring. The Kangaroos jumped ahead at 6-5 behind miscues from the Titans. Senior Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) picked up where she left off yesterday with straight kills to pull IWU within one, 8-7. The first set continued with lead changes with Illinois Wesleyan using junior Alex Bardouniotis'(St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) right arm to regain the lead at 15-14. AC went on a 4-0 run to snatch control back leading to an IWU timeout. Shannon responded with back-to-back kills assisted by Ellis. The duo went back to the well for another kill to tie it at 22 before sophomore Carly Whitaker (Morton, Ill.-Morton) scored a kill sending Feeney to the line for an ace. After an AC timeout, Feeney participated in her third straight point as Palmer put down the final point of the set.
Austin dug itself a hole early in the second with a poor set and an attacking error to give IWU an early 2-0 lead but the Kangaroos jumped out of it and into a 7-4 lead. Neukomm stopped the run with straight kills and Feeney found the hardwood to tie it at seven. Junior Juliana Valdez (Palos Heights, Ill.-Marist) found herself in the action with kills from Feeney and Ellis, tying it at nine. The teams traded points until IWU held a 16-14 advantage, forcing a Kangaroo timeout. Feeney came out of the break in action with an ace followed by a block from Valdez and Whitaker at 21-18. The freshman duo of Neukomm and Ellis combined for a kill to make it 22-18 as Neukomm fired another point to make it 23-19. Austin gave set points to the Titans as Bardouniotis took full advantage of a set from Ellis to seal the deal.
Bardouniotiotis opened the third set with a kill followed by an ace of her own. A Neukomm kill made it 5-2, but Austin used two service aces and a kill to tie it at five. IWU's lead increased to 10-6 but AC got within one at 11-10. Illinois Wesleyan grew it to 15-12 but from then the Kangaroos would roll. A four-point run gave them a 16-15 lead then boosted it to 23-21. IWU tied it at 23 but straight kills from Austin held off the sweep to force a fourth set.
The tightly contested match continued in the early goings of the fourth. Whitaker tied things up at three before AC went ahead 8-6. Momentum swung in the favor of the Green and White on a four-nothing run made it 10-8. Tied at 11, Bardouniotis hammered a pair of kills and junior Graci Junis (Morton, Ill.-Morton) made it 15-12. IWU kept the pressure with a swing from Shannon, a pair of errors from Austin, and an ace from junior Alysa Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill.-IC Catholic Prep). IWU polished off the final five points of the set on kills from Bardouniotis and Palmer to win 25-15.
Match Two: Illinois Wesleyan 1, Centre 3
The theme of close sets continued in the second match of the day. Centre, who swept Earlham College previously in the day, rolled to an opening 25-22 win in set one. The Green and White were up early at 6-4 then 7-5 off an ace from sophomore Shelby Sennet (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal West) and a kill from Bardouniotis. IWU kept its lead, 12-8, on kills from Junis. Centre made its run at the Titans with six points causing an IWU timeout. CC kept the pressure on after the timeout for a 20-15 lead before finishing the Titans off two consecutive mistakes from the Green and White.
The second set was a nailbitter just like the first, this time the Titans were on the right side of it. IWU got off to a nice start connecting on back-to-back blocks from Bardouniotis and Valdez. Illinois Wesleyan grew the lead to 10-6 and 11-7 on an ace from Bardouniotis and junior Libby Detweiler (Downs, Ill.-Tri Valley) provided a kill. Feeney assisted kills to junior Hailey Rak (Lockport, Ill.-Lockport Township) and Valdez which made it 16-12, while back-to-back kills from Detweiler gave the Titans a 20-18 advantage. Feeney continued her success from the service line with an ace, then assisted the set's final point to Whitaker.
IWU fell behind in set three early with deficits of 7-3 then suffered a scoreless drought with a score of 14-6. The Titans tried to rally back but it was cut short by the Colonels who carried the momentum into the fourth set. CC picked up where they left off to start the fourth with a lead of 8-3. The Green and White pulled it closer at 13-10 and took a 20-19 lead on an attacking error. The Titans had a chance to close out the fourth set with back-to-back Bardouniotis kills to make it 23-21 but three attacking errors and a Colonel kill sealed the win for Centre.
The Titans were given 14 and 10 kills for Bardouniotis and Whitaker, respectively. Lawton added 31 digs while Bardouniotis tallied a double-double with 19 digs. Feeney finished with 23 assists along with an ace. Centre closed with a hitting percentage of .146 with 56 kills. Kendra Christopher led the attack with 21 kills.
The Green and White return home for its third ranked contest of the year, playing hosts to No. 20 UW-Whitewater. Action from the Shirk Center will begin at 7 p.m.
