Decatur, Ill. – Elmhurst College defeated the Thunder volleyball team 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-18) on Friday afternoon in the opening semifinal match of the 2016 CCIW Volleyball Tournament. Elmhurst (22-11), the tournament's second-seeded team advances to the CCIW Tournament Championship Match on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. on the campus of Millikin University. Wheaton, the No. 3-seed of the tournament, ends the year with a 13-16 overall record.
Freshman
Meghan Lacey led the Thunder with eight kills and she added eight digs. Junior
Katie Rohrer tallied five kills and freshman
Madeline Moore added five kills. Senior setter
Ashley Torok (PICTURED LEFT) had 13 assists and
Kelly Thornton contributed 11 assists with two service aces.
Jessica Bosse recorded 18 digs for the Thunder.
The Bluejays rallied to win the first set 26-24. The set was tied at 13-13 when Wheaton scored five-consecutive points for an 18-13 lead. Elmhurst responded by out-scoring the Thunder 8-3 to tie the set t 21-21. A pair of Elmhurst errors gave the Thunder a 23-21 lead and then the Bluejays responded with a kill to cut Wheaton's lead to 23-22. Wheaton countered with a kill to give the Thunder a 24-22 lead and the serve for set-point. Elmhurst responded with four-consecutive points to win the set 26-24. Knowles led the Thunder with three kills. Torok had eight assists in the set and Thornton tallied two service aces.
Elmhurst never trailed in the second set as the Bluejays earned the 25-16 win in the set. Lacey had five of Wheaton's seven kills in the set and Thornton distributed five assists.
The Bluejays closed out the match by winning the third set 25-18. Wheaton led the set 4-3 when Elmhurst countered with nine-straight points to gain a 12-4 lead and never trailed after that point. Moore and Rohrer each had two kills in the set for Wheaton.
Note Worthy: Wheaton's second-place finish during the 2016 CCIW regular season schedule is the highest finish for the Thunder volleyball program since 1990…senior
Shelby Knowles (PICTURED RIGHT) closes out her career as the program's all-time leader in kills per set with a career average of 3.63 kills per set…Knowles is third in team history with 1,622 career kills…Torok concludes her Thunder career with 2,285 career assists, a mark that is ninth in program history.
