Elmhurst, Ill. - The Thunder volleyball team dropped its third-straight match on Friday night, falling to Elmhurst in straight sets at R.A. Faganel Hall. The 25-19, 25-22, 25-17 loss drops the Thunder to 2-3 in conference play and 13-8 overall. The Bluejays improved to 8-12 overall and 3-1 in the CCIW. Wheaton will be back in action for one match next week, hosting Augustana College for a 7 pm tip-off on Tuesday night.

Wheaton's attack struggled on Friday night, committing 18 attack errors and hitting just .055 for the match and hitting below .100 in all three sets. The Thunder attack errors hurt the visitors in the first set as nine Thunder errors helped the Bluejays pull away from a 14-14 first set tie to take a 20-15 lead. Wheaton closed the gap to 20-19 but a service error started a string of three straight Thunder errors to boost the Bluejays to a five-point run to close out the set.

A 4-0 Thunder run early in the second set pushed Wheaton to an 11-7 lead before the hosts answered with five straight points to take a one-point lead. The rest of the set went back and forth with the last of 14 second set ties coming at 22-all before the Bluejays scored the last three points to claim the set. A four-point Bluejay run broke a 14-14 third set as the hosts closed the match on an 11-3 run to win the final set 25-17.

Audrey Gerze led the Thunder attack with eight kills followed by Deborah Smith who had seven kills. Marlee Anderson had a team-high 14 assists. Allie High led the Wheaton defense with 16 digs.