GREENCASTLE, Ind. - The No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team started its weekend with a four-set win over DePauw University Friday night, Sept. 11 at Neal Fieldhouse. The Titans rattled off set scores of 25-21, 15-25, 25-10, and 25-20 to improve to 6-0, while the Tigers fell to 3-2 on the season.
The Green and White finished hitting just .188 in the match, but a gritty team effort was highlighted by junior Juliana Valdez (Palos Heights, Ill.-Marist). The junior college transfer posted a career day with 11 kills and 13 points. She also added four total blocks to stuff the stat sheet. A big day was also had by senior captain Cailin Shannon (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park), who finished with nine kills on a .259 hitting percentage. Senior Eleanor Palmer (Chicago, Ill.-DePaul College Prep) led the team in hitting percentage at .385 with six kills. Junior Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North) and sophomore Carly Whitaker (Morton, Ill.-Morton) joined Valdez with a team-high 11 kills.
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The setting duo of senior Sophia Feeney (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal Community) and sophomore Lauren O'Brien (Bloomington, Ill.-Central Catholic) were in lockstep with 19 and 18 assists, respectively. Junior Alysa Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill.-IC Catholic Prep) held the court down defensively with 28 digs.
Set one
Set one started slowly for the Titans as DePauw won the race to five. The Titans grabbed the lead back at 7-6 on kills from Palmer and Whitaker, but the Tigers took advantage of IWU miscues to tie it at 10. The Green and White sputtered ahead 13-10, but DU responded with a 9-3 run of its own to take momentum back. Down 19-16, the set of runs continued, this time in favor of Illinois Wesleyan. Whitaker tacked on another kill before Valdez, Shannon, and O'Brien took center stage. Valdez hammered a kill to make it 21-19, then teamed up for a block with Shannon to force a Tiger timeout at 21-20. Shannon came out of the pause in action with back-to-back kills. Shannon kept the run going with another point before a block from Bardouniotis and Valdez closed set one on a 7-0 run.
Set two
Another slow start plagued the Titans in the second set as head coach Kim Nelson-Brown used her first timeout down 6-0. A motivated IWU squad came out of the timeout firing, getting back in the match with a four-point run, with a pair of kills coming from Whitaker. IWU crept closer at 9-7 and then 11-10 before giving up four points and using its second timeout of the set. The timeout did not faze DU this time, as the Tigers controlled the rest of the set to win it 25-15.
Set three
Three straight kills from the Green and White opened up the third set, which led to a 7-3 advantage. IWU kept the pressure on, which led to mistakes from the Tigers, and a kill from Valdez made it 10-5 going into the DePauw timeout. Another three-point spurt gave IWU a 13-5 lead, forcing the Tigers to call another timeout. The Titans added pressure to DU when Shannon squeezed a kill in, sending Lawton to the service line, where she dialed up an ace. The commanding lead continued as the Green and White took the lead by 11 on Whitaker's stuff, helped out by Palmer. Whitaker added a tip for a point, while Bardouniotis and Valdez kept the block party going to make it 23-9. IWU followed with kills from Bardouniotis and Shannon, dominating the third set.
Set four
A hot start to the fourth set gave the Titans a 5-0 lead, boosted by a pair of Feeney aces. Whitaker made it 6-1 before the Tigers fought back to make it 7-5. DePauw hung around as the Titans took leads of 10-7 on a Valdez kill and 12-11 on a serving mistake from DU. Tied at 12, the Green and White snatched the lead back and never gave it up. Valdez's big day continued with a kill at 16-14, and Shannon added another to make it 18-15, a point before the Tigers called their second timeout of the set. Shannon kept busy, splitting the defense with a strong right arm, making it 20-16. DU answered with a pair of its own to make it 20-18 before a long rally ended with a Whitaker tool. An attack error gifted IWU another point and Bardouniotis teamed up with Feeney for straight kills. A point away from its first road win of the season, Lawton laid out to keep the rally going, leading to a point for the Titans and a 25-20 win.
The Green and White continues its three-match weekend tomorrow with a pair against Austin College and Centre College at the Dr. Bill Brandes Memorial Invitational hosted by Earlham College. IWU meets the Kangaroos at 12 p.m. ET before facing CC at 2:30 p.m. in Richmond, Ind.
