PICTURED ABOVE: Madeline Moore tallied 12 kills against Augustana

Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to earn a critical 3-2 victory at home against Augustana on Tuesday night in King Arena. Augustana won the first set 28-26 and the Vikings picked up a 25-21 win in the second set to give the guests a 2-0 lead. Wheaton won the third and fourth sets by identical scores of 25-23 to send the match to a decisive fifth set. The Thunder dominated the final set, 15-5 to earn the dramatic 3-2 win.

Wheaton is now 11-15 overall and 4-2 in CCIW play and Augustana falls to 22-7 overall and 4-3 in CCIW. Wheaton now stands in fourth place in the CCIW standings, a 1/2 game ahead of the Vikings as the two teams battle for a spot in the upcoming four-team CCIW Volleyball Tournament on November 4-5. Wheaton will continue conference play on Friday with a 7:00 p.m. matchup at North Central.
 
Senior Shelby Knowles, the reigning CCIW Offensive Player of the Week, led the Thunder with 22 kills and she added 17 digs in the match. Madeline Moore and Meghan Lacey each registered 12 kills for the Thunder. Sophomore Jessica Bosse (PICTURED LEFT) recorded a match-high 29 digs and Lacey added 25 digs. Ashley Torok distributed 31 assists and Kelly Thornton had 25 assists. Ellie Brown recorded two solo blocks with three assisted blocks. Sara Reiskytl tallied seven assisted blocks and Hannah Japp added eight assisted blocks. Wheaton had seven service aces in the match and recorded 14 total blocks.
 
The Vikings rallied to win the first set 28-26. Wheaton led the set 17-14, however, the Vikings rallied to take a 20-19 lead. Wheaton responded to take a 24-23 lead and serve set point. A kill by Augustana's Taryn Van Earwage tied the set at 24-24. Wheaton led 26-25 when the Vikings won three consecutive points to win the set 28-26. Katie Rohrer and Knowles each recorded four kills and Knowles contributed eight digs.

Augustana never trailed in the second set as the Vikings won 25-21. Knowles (PICTURED RIGHT) recorded six of Wheaton's eight kills in the set.

Wheaton extended the match by winning the third set 25-23. Augustana led the Thunder 11-7 when Wheaton responded with four consecutive points to tie the match at 11-11. The set was tied at 15-15 when Wheaton out-scored the Vikings 4-1 to give the hosts a 19-16 lead. Augustana responded to tie the set at 22-22. Wheaton closed out the set with a 3-1 edge to earn the 25-23 victory.

Wheaton again earned a 25-23 victory in the fourth set. The set was tied 22-22 when a pair of kills by Meghan Lacey gave Wheaton a 24-23 lead. Thunder senior Sara Reiskytl registered a service ace to give Wheaton the 25-23 win. Moore led the Thunder in the set with six kills. Lacey and Bosse each had eight digs.

Wheaton won the fifth set 15-5. The set was tied 2-2 when Wheaton out-scored the Vikings 9-1 to gain an 11-3 lead as the Thunder decisively won the final set. Knowles recorded three of Wheaton's six kills in the set. Reiskytl had four total blocks in the set.

Note Worthy: Wheaton is in the midst of its first four-match winning streak since Oct. 24-Oct. 28, 2014 when Wheaton won its last three matches at Millikin's Linda Slagell 'Dig for the Cure' Tournament and then won at Augustana on Oct. 28…tonight's win was the 299^th career victory in the 12-year coaching career of Brittany Smith.