Bloomington, Ill. -- Wheaton's volleyball team could not have envisioned a better way for their first conference road trip of the season to unfold than how it did on Wednesday evening. The Thunder cruised to a three-set sweep of their hosts, Illinois Wesleyan, and improved to 2-0 in conference play.
Wheaton had to withstand an early charge from the Titans, who quickly jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the first set. But the Thunder rattled off four straight points and never trailed again in the first game. Halfway through the set, Wheaton saw an 18-12 advantage slip away as IWU clawed their way back to a one point deficit. But a service error for the hosts handed the initiative back to Wheaton, and they proceeded to win four of the next five points to regain a comfortable advantage.
Audrey Gerze finished things off with a kill to help Wheaton to a 25-21 success.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair that proved to be the tightest of the three games on the night. The two teams were tied at 10 points apiece before Wheaton went on a run of seven points from the next eight to take a commanding mid-set advantage. They extended their lead to a 22-16 margin, but Illinois Wesleyan proved that they were not about to go down without a fight, as they took seven points in quick succession to cut the Wheaton lead to one. But another service error at a crucial moment gave the Thunder a win in the second set by a nail-biting 25-23 mark.
The third and final set of the contest was the most straightforward of any for the Thunder, as the team went on extended scoring runs in the middle of the set and again at the end while suffocating the Titan attack. After Wheaton registered five unanswered points in the middle of the game to build a 15-10 lead, the hosts never got back within three and the visitors left Bloomington with a 25-15 win in the final set.
Statistical standouts on the night for Wheaton included
Colleen Smith, who, fresh off of her MVP award in the Marilyn Scribner Invitational last weekend, added nine kills this time around and was the highest scorer on the night for Wheaton.
Naomi Bunker hit .400 from the court, the best mark of any Thunder player.
Mia Staub proved a vital contributor with 13 assists and three service aces. Fellow setter
Marlee Anderson registered a team-high 15 assists, and
Allie High helped herself to 16 digs across the three sets.
Wheaton will next take the court on Wednesday, September 29th when they return to King Arena to take on Lake Forest College in a nonconference matchup.
