PICTURED ABOVE: Kelli Manning led the Thunder with 15 digs tonight and she added three service aces.

Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder volleyball team closed its season on Tuesday night with a 3-0 victory against Millikin. Wheaton won a 25-19 decision in the first set, the Thunder won 25-14 in the second set and the hosts dramatically rallied for a 25-23 win in the decisive third set.

Wheaton closes out the year 12-17 overall and 3-4 in CCIW play. Wheaton honored its three seniors: Samantha Hedlund, Kelli Manning and Lauren Wilhite prior to tonight's match as they conclude their Thunder playing careers.

Millikin is 23-12 on the year and 5-2 in conference action. Millikin's loss to the Thunder tonight created a three-way tie for the CCIW Championship as the Big Blue, Elmhurst and Illinois Wesleyan all finished conference play with 5-2 records.

Junior outside hitter Shelby Knowles (PICTURED LEFT) had 16 kills, with 11 digs and two service aces tonight. Amanda Smith, Sara Reiskytl, and Hannah Japp each contributed five kills.

Manning had a team-high 15 digs on senior night and she also had two service aces. Ashley Torok had a team-high 18 assists and Kelly Thornton had 10 assists. Sophomore Emily Potts had two solo blocks and three assisted blocks in the match.

Head coach Brittany Smith said of her team's performance tonight, "I am really proud of the team and the hard work that went into the win tonight. The team has been consistently practicing so well and we knew that they were capable of a performance like this. To have it result in a win against our conference champion team, Millikin is a sweet victory." She added, "I am very grateful for our seniors. All three of them have put the team and the program first all year. To have them close out their careers on a win is great; and I am very happy for them to have that."

The first set was back-and-forth as it opened tied at 10-10. The Thunder scored four of the next give points to take a 14-11 lead. Wheaton never trailed in the set after that point, earning the 25-19 victory. Knowles tallied five kills, Thornton led Wheaton with seven assists and Manning had five digs.

Wheaton dominated the second set, as the Thunder never trailed. The set was tied at 2-2 when the Thunder took a 10-5 lead and later extended its lead to 20-10 as the Thunder earned the 25-14 win. Knowles had six kills to lead Wheaton and Manning had seven digs in the match.

The opening serves of the third set saw a tightly contested outing that saw the score tied at 10-10. The Big Blue built up a 15-11 lead and continued to maintain an advantage. Millikin moved to within two points of winning the set as the Big Blue held a 23-18 lead. A Big Blue service error and kills by Amanda Smith and Knowles, but Millikin's lead to 23-21. A Millikin error was followed by a powerful kill by Smith to tie the set at 23-23. Knowles registered a service ace to give Wheaton a 24-23 lead and a Millikin error on Knowles' final serve gave Wheaton the 25-23 win and the 3-0 victory in the match. Wheaton scored the final seven points of the set to rally from the 23-18 deficit.

Note Worthy:  Knowles ends the year with a new Wheaton single-season record for kills per set with an average of 4.37 KPS…Manning closes out her career with 1,948 digs, the eighth-highest career total in school history…Manning's career average of 4.50 digs per set is sixth in school history…Wilhite leaves the Thunder volleyball program ranked ninth in school history with 1,739 career assists…Knowles wraps up her junior season 10^th on Wheaton's all-time career kills list with 1,238.