Stevens Point, Wis. – The Wheaton volleyball team competed in a pair of matches Saturday at the UW-Stevens Point Invitational II. The Thunder dropped their afternoon opener 3-2 against UW-La Crosse. The host Pointers of UW-Stevens Point topped the Thunder 3-1 in Wheaton's second match. Freshman Colleen Smith earned All-Tournament honors for the Thunder.

UW-La Crosse rallied to defeat Wheaton 3-2 in the first Thunder match of the day. Wheaton won the first set 25-19 and the Thunder took the second set 25-14. The Eagles rallied with a 25-21 win in the third set and evened the match score at 2-2 with a 25-16 victory in the fourth set. UW-La Crosse closed out the come-from-behind win with a 15-6 victory in the decisive fifth set.

Thunder freshman Colleen Smith tallied a team-high 13 kills in the match, with nine kills for Kelly Thornton and seven for Madeline Moore. Thornton distributed a team-high 16 assists and Mia Staub added 14 assists. Senior Jess Bosse registered 30 digs and Cassie Swiderek added 18 digs, with 17 digs for Colleen Smith.
UW-Stevens Point topped the Thunder 3-1 in the finale. Wheaton won the first set 25-19 and the Pointers picked up a 25-23 victory in the second set. The Pointer won the third set 25-23 and closed out the win with a 30-28 victory in the fourth set.

Moore had a team-high 15 kills for the Thunder, Kelly Thornton registered 13 kills and Colleen Smith tallied 12 for the guests. Thornton had seven blocks for Wheaton and Ellie Brown tallied six blocks. Thornton distributed a team-high 29 assists and Staub had 22 assists for the Thunder. Bosse had 15 digs to lead the Thunder.

Wheaton begins a stretch of three-consecutive matches in King Arena on Tuesday night with a 7:00 p.m. matchup against Illinois Wesleyan.