BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Illinois Wesleyan University won its third consecutive College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin women’s volleyball title on Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 (25-22, 16-25, 25-14, 25-21) victory over Elmhurst University. The Titans (27-3) will wait to hear their name called on Monday during the NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Selection Show and to see if they will host an opening weekend of matches at the Shirk Center.
Elmhurst (18-12) acquitted itself well in the match and CCIW Offensive Player of the Year Katie Hurta did everything she could, finishing with 22 kills, but Illinois Wesleyan simply had too many options. The setter duo of Sophia Feeney (25 assists) and Lauren O’Brien (24 assists) set the table for four Titans to finish in double figures for kills and for IWU to register a .333 hitting percentage as a team.
In the first set, Elmhurst was in prime position to snag an early lead in the match, up 21-19 in the late going. However, one attack error from the Bluejays opened the door for Illinois Wesleyan and five points later the Titans were on the verge of taking the set, up 24-21. Though Hurta was able to stop the streak and pull EU within two, a kill from Juliana Valdez finished it off.
Elmhurst showed it had no intention of going quietly, coming back with a 25-16 win in the second set to level the match at 1-1. The Bluejays had their best offensive set of the match with a .268 hitting percentage and also took advantage of six Titan errors to pull away. In the middle of the set, Elmhurst won seven of eight points to turn a 14-11 lead into a 21-12 margin and cruised from there.
The answer from Illinois Wesleyan was immediate. The third set was briefly tied at 4-4, but soon the Titans had their lead up to 14-6 and it would only grow from there. IWU had 18 kills in the set and seized command of the match back with a 2-1 advantage.
The fourth set was back and forth to the finish, but Illinois Wesleyan made the plays it needed at the big moments to close it out. Elmhurst started out with a 4-0 lead, but the Titans responded with seven straight points and eventually grew their lead to 18-10. The Bluejays had one final push in them, scoring five straight and eight of the next nine to close within a single point, 19-18, and forcing IWU into a timeout. Out of the break in action, the teams traded points until it was 21-20, when kills from Carly Whitaker and Cailin Shannon combined with a couple Bluejay errors to finish off the match.
Shannon ended with a team-high 15 kills for Illinois Wesleyan, while Alex Bardouniotis had 11 and both Whitaker and Eleanor Palmer had 10. Alysa Lawton led the Titan defense with 22 digs.
For Elmhurst, Hurta notched a double-double as she had 10 digs to go along with her 22 kills. Freddie Temple also had a double-double with 33 assists and 10 digs. Elayna Ammerman finished with 19 digs.
Illinois Wesleyan will learn its postseason path on Monday starting at 12 p.m. when the selection show airs on NCAA.com. The 64-team field will be whittled down to eight teams over three days beginning on Thursday, Nov. 19 and going through Saturday, Nov. 21.
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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.).