PICTURED ABOVE: Shelby Knowles (PICTURED LEFT) led Wheaton with 26 kills and Andy DeMoss (PICTURED RIGHT) recorded eight kills with 12 digs.

Kenosha, Wis. – The Wheaton volleyball team had its season ended on Friday in a dramatic 2-3 loss to Millikin in the CCIW Tournament Semifinal against Millikin. Millikin won the opening set 25-6 and the Thunder won the second set 25-19. Millikin regained the advantage with a 25-19 victory in set-three and Wheaton sent the match to a decisive fifth set by winning the fourth set 25-19. Millikin escaped with a 20-18 victory in the fifth set as Wheaton had the serve for match point on three opportunities and Millikin also had three opportunities for match point.

Sophomore Shelby Knowles led the Thunder with 26 kills and a.323 attack percentage. Andy DeMoss added eight kills with five total blocks. Senior Lindsay Stein (PICTURED LEFT) tallied seven total blocks in the match. Setter Ashley Torok distributed 24 assists and Alley Lindner recorded 21. Kelli Manning led the Thunder with 18 kills and Knowles added 16 kills.

Millikin decisively won the first set 25-6. Wheaton rallied with a 25-19 win in the second set. The Thunder never trailed in the set, jumping out to a 10-4 lead. Knowles led Wheaton with seven kills in the set, while she and Manning (PICTURED RIGHT) each had four digs. Stein tallied three total blocks in the set.

Millikin won the third set 25-19. Knowles led Wheaton with six kills and DeMoss had a team-high three digs. Wheaton was a 25-19 winner in the fourth set as Knowles recorded seven kills as Torok and Manning each had six digs.

The fifth set was a dramatic affair that had six match point opportunities with three for each team as Millikin won 20-18. Wheaton held a 9-5 lead in the final set; however, the Big Blue scored three consecutive points to trim Wheaton's lead to 9-8. From that point in the set neither team had a lead larger than one point. Millikin led 14-13 when a kill by Wheaton's Emily Potts tied the match at 14-14. Brittany Creel tallied a kill on the next point to give Wheaton a 15-14 lead. Millikin tied the set a 15-15 and DeMoss' kill gave the Thunder a 16-15 lead. A Wheaton miscue tied the match at 16-16 and another DeMoss kill gave the Thunder a 17-16 advantage. Two consecutive points gave Millikin an 18-17 lead; however a mistake by the Big Blue tied the match at 18-18. The Big Blue closed out the match with the final two points for the 20-18 victory. Knowles led Wheaton with five kills in the set and she added five digs.

Note Worthy: The number-three seed achieved by Wheaton in the CCIW Tournament is the highest seed for the Thunder since 2007.