PICTURED ABOVE: Shelby Knowles had 24 kills against Aurora, with four service aces.

Wheaton, Ill. – The Thunder volleyball team looked strong on Friday night in earning a 3-1 victory at home against Aurora University (10-12). The Thunder compiled a season-high .264 attack percentage in the match. Wheaton's attack percentage tonight is the highest for the team in 27 matches, dating back to a mark of .307 against University of Dubuque on October 25, 2014.

Wheaton won the first two sets with a 25-19 in the opening set and a 25-13 victory in the second set. The Spartans earned a 25-23 victory in the third set and the Thunder close out the match with a 25-17 victory in the fourth set.

Wheaton jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first set as the Spartans had a series of miscues to put the guests behind. The Spartans slowly chipped away at Wheaton's lead as the guests cut the Thunder advantage to 19-17.

Wheaton pulled away in the set and closed it out on a service ace by Shelby Knowles to earn the 25-19 victory. Knowles tallied a set-high five kills with three aces in the match.

The second set was tied early at 2-2, but Wheaton took a 16-5 lead and pulled away from the Spartans on the way to the 25-13 victory. Emily Potts (PICTURED LEFT) had a solo block and an assisted block in the set and Kelli Manning contributed five digs.

Wheaton led for the majority of the third set. The Thunder led 21-16 when Aurora out-scored the hosts 5-1 to trim Wheaton's lead to 22-21. Knowles recorded 10 kills with five digs in the set and Sydney Vischer (PICTURED RIGHT) added five kills.

Wheaton again took an early lead in the fourth set as the Thunder held a 9-4 advantage. The Spartans never got closer than a five-point deficit in the set as Wheaton closed out the set and the match with the 25-17 win. Knowles again led all players with seven kills in the set, as the team recorded an attack percentage of .382 in the set.

Thunder head coach Brittany Smith said following the match, "The team has been working incredibly hard. They have been focused with their efforts and pushing themselves in practice to take more risks and that hard work showed up tonight. I am looking forward to continuing this momentum into next week with two conference games coming up."

Knowles finished the match with 24 kills, her second-highest total of the season, and she posted an attack percentange of .412. She added 16 digs and four aces in the match. Vischer tallied 12 kills for the Thunder. Ashley Torok had 24 assists in the match and Kelly Thornton added 22 assists. Manning (PICTURED LEFT) was Wheaton's digs leader in the match with 18 and Potts recorded one solo block and two assisted blocks.

Wheaton (8-13) will return to conference action on Tuesday with a match at North Park University.