Colorado Box Score
Linfield Box Score
Eastern Box Score
Third place Box Score

Colorado Springs, Colo. - The Wheaton College volleyball team went 2-2 to take third place at the Colorado College Invitational over the weekend. Freshmen Emily Buyse and Hannah Graber both earned a spot on the All-Tournament team.

The Thunder now have a 5-4 record on the season.

Wheaton lost the first match of the tournament to No. 5-ranked Colorado College 3-0 (27-25, 26-24, 25-17).

The visiting Thunder had good opportunities throughout the match to grab the advantage. The first set saw Wheaton build a 21-17 lead and also had game point at 25-24. But the Tiger rallied back each time and took the opening stanza.

Set two was a similar story as Wheaton was looking at set point at 24-21 before Colorado scored the next five points in a row.

Middle hitters Buyse and Graber finished with eight kills each on offense. Libero Ashlie Pace collected 14 digs while setter Jenna McCallister# handed out 24 assists. Buyse and McCallister tallied five blocks each.

In the second match vs. Linfield College, Wheaton came away with a 3-1 victory (19-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-15). After a shaky first set that featured a negative hitting percentage, the Thunder got back on track with 17 kills and only four errors in the second set.

The balanced offensive attack was led by Cassie Murphy with 11 kills, 20 digs and seven assists. Graber added 10 kills and Hannah Velling scored nine kills. McCallister finished with 29 assists, 11 digs and three blocks. Five different Thunder players had double-digit digs, led by Pace with 27. Buyse was the block leader again with four.

Saturday's first match for Wheaton went to Eastern (Pa.) University 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-19). The Thunder got a team-high nine kills from Velling while McCallister had eight kills to go with 23 assists and 12 digs. Pace tallied 16 digs and three aces while Buyse added two blocks.

The Thunder played in the third-place match vs. Linfield College and took the victory 3-1 (16-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-17). Murphy was the leader in kills with 12 to go with 12 digs. McCallister tallied 31 assists, seven kills and 13 digs. Pace totaled 30 digs and Buyse collected four blocks.

Wheaton returns home to play its first conference game of the season vs. North Park University at 7:00 PM on Tuesday.