NOTE: The following story was released on September 29, two days after the Titans lost their first match against Hope College. The Argus regrets this error.
***
After snuffing out the Wheaton Thunder in their opening College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) match, women’s volleyball returned to Shirk to sweep their second home tournament of the season.
The Wittenberg Tigers–who recently ended the 103-game winning streak of the legendary Juniata Eagles–were expected to be the toughest match of the weekend.
The match ended up being all green and white with a 3-set sweep, thanks to Taylor French, who led the Titan offense with 19 kills. The young roster of Rose-Hulman gave it their best shot against the Titans, but the maturity and offensive effectiveness of the Titans prevailed. They swept the Fightin’ Engineers, with the winning kill from Junior Mallory Monahan.
The Kohawks of Coe College managed to steal set two from the Titans, marking the first dropped set since their five-set thriller against Earlham College and only their third dropped set of the season.
Middle blockers senior Hannah Tellor and junior Eleanor Palmer, with the aid of junior setter Sophia “THE FIEN” Feeny, rallied in the third set. Together they posted 19 kills for the match, pushing the Titans to a 3-1 victory.
On the following Monday, star senior Taylor French was awarded the CCIW Hitter of the Week Award for the 11th time in her career. Totaling 62 kills on a .402 hitting average, she is one of the most dominant outsides in all of Division III volleyball.
Following the weekend wins, the AVCA poll ranked Illinois Wesleyan seventh.
The ranking is the best in program history and adds to the team’s record-setting start of 11-0.
