<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1igYs0_0vkHOAmX00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1igYs0_0vkHOAmX00" width="800" height="450" >BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - A balanced attack and a strong defensive showing fueled the Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team to a sweep of Elmhurst University Wednesday night, Sept. 25, at R.A. Faganel Hall. With the win, IWU improves to 9-5 on the season, and 2-0 in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin action, while Elmhurst dips to 6-6 overall, 0-2 in CCIW contests.The Titan offense saw junior Taylor French (Romeoville, Ill.-Plainfield East) post a match-high 10 kills, followed by six from senior Morgan Harrington (Plainfield, Ill.-Plainfield East). Sophomore Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) added five on an impressive .556 attack percentage, committing no hitting errors, while junior Hannah Tellor (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) also finished with five. Freshman Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) registered a career-best four service aces to go along with five kills. French followed with three aces of her own. Senior Abby Erdman (Aurora, Ill.-Metea Valley) and sophomore Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) masterminded a Green and White offense that finished with a team attack percentage of .244. Erdman recorded 14 assists, while Feeney finished with 11. A strong defensive showing was led by Feeney's eight digs, several of which saved rallies, followed by junior Kannyn Boyd (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-Mt. Pleasant) and French with five digs each. Palmer led the net defense with three blocks, one coming on a solo stuff, while Bardouniotis added a pair of rejections to her impressive statline. Illinois Wesleyan took hold of the set from the beginning, as Feeney found French for a kill for the first point. Harrington and sophomore Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Part) posted back-to-back kills to give the Green and White a 4-2 lead, and after a sideout for Elmhurst, the Titans tacked two more onto the scoreboard. Two EU miscues upped the lead to 9-4 in favor of the visitors, forcing the Bluejays to burn an early timeout.The break in the action did little to stop IWU, as Tellor notched an ace, followed by two straight kills for French, causing Elmhurst to use its final timeout, facing a 12-4 deficit.After the Bluejays rattled off four straight to cut the lead in half, the Titans went on a four-point run of their own thanks to kills from Palmer and Tellor, and two Bluejays errors, upping the score to 16-8.The Titans coasted the rest of the way to the set win, as an attack error set up set point, before Feeney fed French for a tool-kill to finish it, 25-15.A slow start to the second set looked to plague the Green and White, who trailed 17-12, before a timeout from head coach Kim Nelson-Brown proved to be a pivotal moment. Out of the stoppage of play, Feeney found Tellor and Palmer for kills, and an EU attack error put the score at 19-17, forcing the home team to call a timeout of its own. The Titans kept the comeback, as French posed back-to-back kills to level the score at 19 apiece. After a service error forced a sideout, IWU got back on track with a kill from French, and Harrington tipped one over a block to give the Green and White its first lead of the set, followed by an ace from Erdman to push the lead to two, 22-20. The change in the lead made the Bluejays call their second and final timeout of the set. French registered an ace to push it to set point, and after Elmhurst fended it off, Bardouniotis buried a set from Erdman to finish the comeback, 25-22. The third set started the same way the second one ended, as Erdman found Bardouniotis for a kill to start it in favor of the visitors. Down 10-8, an EU attack error, an ace from French, and Bardouniotis and Palmer teaming up for a block put the Titans back in front, 11-10, ensuing a Bluejays timeout. The Illinois Wesleyan net defense continued with a block from Harrington and Palmer, and French laid down another ace to up the lead to three, 13-10. With the score at 15-13, the Titans went on an 8-1 run bookended by a Bardouniotis kill and ace to up the Titan advantage to 23-14. An error by the Bluejays pushed the set to match point, where Palmer capped off a 25-16 victory with her fifth kill of the night.Illinois Wesleyan will enjoy a weekend off before embarking on a rigorous portion of the CCIW schedule next week, as the Titans host No. 15 North Park University Wednesday, Oct. 2. The Green and White will follow Wednesday by hosting 11th-ranked Millikin University to kick off homecoming weekend Friday night, Oct. 4. Wednesday's match will begin at 6 p.m., while Friday's contest starts at 7 p.m. inside the Shirk Center. </div></body>

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Women’s Volleyball Secures Sweep at Elmhurst

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - A balanced attack and a strong defensive showing fueled the Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team to a sweep of Elmhurst University Wednesday night, Sept. 25, at R.A. Faganel Hall. With the win, IWU improves to 9-5 on the season, and 2-0 in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin action, while Elmhurst dips to 6-6 overall, 0-2 in CCIW contests.