NAPERVILLE — The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) placed five individuals on the 2025 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Region 8 awards list, highlighted by First Team selections for Kristina Manojlovic of Carthage and Alex Bardouniotis and Taylor French of Illinois Wesleyan. 
 
IWU’s Hannah Tellor received Honorable Mention, while IWU head coach Kim Nelson-Brown rounded out the conference’s representation by being named the Region VIII Coach of the Year.
 
There are 14 All-Region team members and six honorable mention selections for each of the 10 regions. Additionally, a Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and Coach of the Year were selected for each region. The 200 student-athletes who made All-Region represent 96 different schools.
 
Manojlovic added First Team All-Region VIII honors to a decorated 2025 campaign after also earning First Team All-CCIW status. Manojlovic led the CCIW with 482 kills, ranking sixth nationally, while also finishing third in total attacks (1,315) and seventh in total points (540.5). She rounded out her all-around performance with 286 digs and 53 blocks.
 
Bardouniotis earned her first career all-region accolade as a First Team All-Region VIII selection. A two-time CCIW Hitter of the Week and First Team All-CCIW honoree, Bardouniotis ranked second on the Titan roster in both kills (286; 3.01 per set) and digs (299; 3.15 per set), while contributing 46 aces and 26 blocks in a breakout season.
 
French captured her fourth all-region honor, becoming just the second Titan in program history to reach that milestone. The three-time CCIW Offensive Student-Athlete of the Year led IWU with 392 kills (4.13 per set), ranking 24th nationally, and averaged 5.01 points per set, good for 14th in Division III. French, the program’s all-time aces leader, added 70 aces (24th nationally) and earned AVCA National Player of the Week on Nov. 4.
 
Tellor received her first career all-region honor with a Region VIII Honorable Mention selection. A two-time First Team All-CCIW performer, Tellor paced the Titans with 62 blocks (0.65 per set) and added 196 kills on a .310 hitting percentage. She also surpassed 1,000 career kills on Oct. 21 against WashU
 
Nelson-Brown was named AVCA Region VIII Coach of the Year for the second time in her career, previously earning the award in 2015. She steered the Titans to a 26-2 record entering the NCAA Tournament, including the best start in program history with 13 consecutive wins. Under her leadership, IWU completed an undefeated CCIW regular season and tournament sweep, hosted an NCAA Regional, and produced a program-record seven All-CCIW selections.
 
AVCA All-Region 8 1st Team
Kristina Manojlovic, Carthage
Alex Bardouniotis, Illinois Wesleyan
Taylor French, Illinois Wesleyan
 
AVCA All-Region 8 Honorable Mention
Hannah Tellor, Illinois Wesleyan
 
AVCA Region 8 Coach of the Year
Kim Nelson-Brown, Illinois Wesleyan