Decatur, Ill. – The Wheaton volleyball team (8-9, 1-5 CCIW) had a hard-fought match at Millikin (16-7, 5-1 CCIW) on Wednesday night. The Big Blue defeated the Thunder 3-2 in a match of back-and-forth results. Millikin won the first set 25-17 and Wheaton responded with a 27-25 win the second set. Millikin was a 27-25 victor in the third set and the Thunder won the fourth set 25-23 to send the match to a decisive fifth set. Millikin closed out the match with a 15-11 victory in the fifth set.

Wheaton sophomore Emerson Traweek had a team-high 15 kills in the match. Caroline Capps recorded 13 kills. Faith Bailey tallied 11 kills, with just two errors on 20 attempts for an impressive .450 attack percentage. Ashton Major recorded eight kills with one error on just 16 attempts for a .438 attack percentage. Jordan Benford added five kills for the guests.
Setter Lacey Higgins had a match-high 42 assists, and she added to service aces. Grace Autry led the Thunder with 18 digs, and Higgins added 16 digs.  Beford recorded 13 digs, Traweek tallied 11 digs, and Capps added 10 digs.

The Big Blue won the first set 25-17. The set was tied at 8-8 when Millikin scored four-consecutive points to take a 12-8 lead. Millikin never trailed in the set after that. Traweek had a team-high three kills in the first set, with two kills apiece for Bailey and Capps. Higgins had seven assists and Autry tallied six digs.

Wheaton rallied to win the second set 27-25. Wheaton led the set 11-9 when Millikin rebounded with a 6-1 scoring to gain a 15-12 lead. It was at that point that the Thunder countered with a 5-1 run as the guests gained the lead at 17-16. The two squads battled back-and-forth to a 24-24 tie. Traweek tallied a kill to give the Thunder a 25-24 lead. The Big Blue tied the set at 25-25 with a kill. On the next two serves by Higgins, Capps registered a pair of kills to give Wheaton the 27-25 win.

Millikin won the third set 27-25. The Big Blue jumped out to a 4-0 lead and continued on to a 10-3 advantage. The hosts led 18-13 when the Thunder scored five-consecutive points to tie the match at 18-18. Wheaton then responded with a run to give the Thunder a 23-20 lead. Millikin rallied in the set to earn the 27-25 victory. Traweek, Higgins, and Bailey each had two kills for the guests. Traweek had a team-high six digs in the set.

Wheaton won the fourth set 25-23. Millikin led 5-4 when the Thunder put together a 6-2 run to take a 10-7 lead. Millikin battled back to tie the set several times, however the final tie was at 23-23. Traweek tallied a kill to give Wheaton a 24-23 lead and the Thunder closed out the set with the final point for a 25-23 victory. Traweek had five kills to lead the Thunder in the fourth set and Bailey tallied four kills. Higgins had 12 assists in the set, and Autry tallied five digs.

The Big Blue won a tightly contested fifth set 15-11 in a set that had four lead changes and was tied six times. The set was tied 10-10 when Millikin put together a 5-1 run to close out the set in a 15-11 victory. Traweek led the Thunder with three kills, while Bailey, Major and Capps had two kills apiece. Higgins had nine assists in the set.

Wheaton travels to Michigan for a pair of non-conference matches this weekend. The Thunder take on Albion on Friday and travel to Kalamazoo on Saturday.