GAME STATS 1 | GAME STATS 2 TOURNAMENT RESULTS

PICTURED ABOVE: Maddie McGinnis earned All-Tournament recognition in leading Wheaton to a tournament championship.

Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton volleyball team won all four of its matches this weekend, without dropping a set, to win the 2013 Wheaton Invitational. It is Wheaton's first title at its own tournament since the 2010 season. The squad is now 14-5 on the year and will open conference play on Tuesday at 7 PM when Millikin visits King Arena.

"You could just see the confidence that our players developed this weekend with being able to come from behind in several sets," noted head coach Brittany Smith. "I think that's hugely important for us moving forward and gives us a place to look at to say we've done it before."


Wheaton marched out to a 2-0 lead against Mount St. Joe, winning set-one 25-16 and earning a 25-18 victory in set-two. The third set was tied at 19-19 when the Lions responded to pull ahead 23-20. Thunder senior Emily Buyse began serving with Wheaton trailing 23-20 and she sparked a Thunder rally with an ace to cut the Lions' lead to 23-21. Buyse continued to serve for the final four points as Wheaton emerged with the dramatic win to secure the tournament title.

Maddie McGinnis led the Thunder with 10 kills and recorded three service aces. Shelby Knowles (PICTURED LEFT) added nine kills and tallied three service aces. Buyse had seven kills and five total blocks. Lauren Wilhite distributed 20 assists and Ashley Torok had 13. Kelli Manning led Wheaton with 10 digs and Knowles recorded eight digs.

In the morning win against Kalamazoo, Knowles led Wheaton with nine kills. McGinnis recorded eight kills and Andy DeMoss tallied six. Wilhite led Wheaton with 17 assists and Torok had 10. Manning recorded a team-best 12 digs in the match and Lindsay Stein had five total blocks, including two solos.

PHOTO GALLERY, COURTESY OF THUNDERPHOTOS.COM