NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The 2026 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Women’s Volleyball Tournament has reached a crescendo as the championship match is now set between No. 1 seed Illinois Wesleyan University and No. 3 seed Elmhurst University.
Illinois Wesleyan came out on fire and put away Millikin University in three sets in one semifinal, while Elmhurst University fought off a charge from Carroll University to take down the Pioneers, 3-1.
The championship match of the 2026 CCIW Women’s Volleyball Tournament will be hosted by Illinois Wesleyan at the Shirk Center on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m.
No. 1 Illinois Wesleyan 3, No. 4 Millikin 0 (25-10, 25-20, 25-14)
Illinois Wesleyan (26-3) made the first set a statement of intent and rode that hot start to a sweep of Millikin, advancing to the CCIW Tournament championship match for the third straight season.
The Titans scored the first four points of the first set and never trailed. The Big Blue didn’t do themselves any favors early on, hitting -.111 as a team in the set as Illinois Wesleyan quickly nabbed a 1-0 lead on the night.
The second set was much tighter throughout and Millikin grew its lead to 19-15 after consecutive kills from Miley Quade. Down the stretch, however, Illinois Wesleyan wouldn’t be denied. Three straight kills from Josie Neukomm knotted the score at 20-20 and the run continued for the Titans, who would ultimately tally the final eight points of the set to take it, 25-20.
It was Alex Bardouniotis’ turn in the third set. With the score tied at 4-4 early on, Bardouniotis had five straight kills to put Illinois Wesleyan in command. Millikin tried to stay within touching distance, but IWU had too many attacking options at its disposal and had 18 kills as a team in the third set to finish the night with a sweep.
Bardouniotis finished with a match-high 12 kills, followed by Neukomm with eight. Elle Richards had seven kills for the Big Blue, who wrap up their season at 15-17 overall.
No. 3 Elmhurst 3, No. 2 Carroll 1 (25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 25-20)
Katie Hurta showed again why she was named CCIW Offensive Student-Athlete of the Year earlier this week, leading Elmhurst (18-11) with 24 kills to put the Bluejays into the championship match.
The first set was tied, 18-18, when EU’s Isabella Mendell notched two straight kills and then a solo block. Tzvetomira Tchohadjieva had the final two kills of the set to finish off a 25-21 win for the Bluejays.
After a relatively quiet three kills in the first set, Hurta got rolling with nine in the second set to power the Elmhurst offense. Though the set was tied five times, Carroll was never able to grab a lead and Hurta supplied the final two kills to finish it off for a two-set lead.
The Pioneers roared back in the third set, rallying from 12-10 down and scoring eight straight points to bring the crowd to life. Elmhurst got within two late, but Lexi Proctor, Clara Justice, and Carly Hicklin all contributed down the closing stretch to force the match to a fourth set.
The fourth set was close until a six-point run from Elmhurst in the middle of the set opened up a 16-9 lead. Later on, Hurta had two more kills in a four-point rally that pushed the advantage out to 22-13. Though the Pioneers fought to the end, the Bluejay lead was too much to overcome and it was Hurta to finish it off with the final point of the night.
Besides Hurta’s 24 kills, Elmhurst received 11 from Tchohadjieva and 10 from Mendell. Freddie Temple had a double-double with 40 assists and 16 digs, while Elayna Ammerman tallied 26 digs on the night.
Justice led Carroll, who finish the year at 18-12, with 11 kills on the night. Samantha Miserendino paced the Pioneer defense with 19 digs.
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The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, Ill.), Carroll University (Waukesha, Wis.), Carthage College (Kenosha, Wis.), Elmhurst University (Elmhurst, Ill.), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, Ill.), Millikin University (Decatur, Ill.), North Central College (Naperville, Ill.), North Park University (Chicago, Ill.) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.).