Rock Island, Ill. – The Wheaton volleyball team (2-4, 0-1 CCIW) opened conference play on Wednesday night with a road match at Augustana (7-0, 1-0 CCIW). The Vikings topped the Thunder 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-10).
The Thunder volleyball team hosts the Marilyn Scribner Invitational this weekend in King Arena. Wheaton opens the tournament on Friday at 5:00 p.m. against Aurora. The Thunder will face IIT on Saturday at 9 a.m. and their final match of the weekend is on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. against Bethel (Minn.)
Caroline Capps led the Thunder tonight against Augustana with seven kills.
Ashton Major tallied six kills, while
Emerson Traweek and
Jordan Benford each recorded five kills.
Lacey Higgins had 23 assists for the guests.
Grace Autry had a team-best 19 digs, and Benford tallied nine digs.
Augustana won the opening set 25-19. The first set was tied 2-2 when the Vikings put together an 8-1 scoring surge to give the hosts a 10-3 lead and Augie never trailed in the set after that key run. Major and Capps each tallied three kills in the first set. Autry registered 11 of her 19 digs in the first set and Benford had a service ace.
The hosts won the second set 25-21.The second set was tied at 7-7 when Augustana recorded a 8-1 run to take a 15-8 lead. Wheaton battled back to cut the Vikings' lead to two at 22-20, but the hosts hung on for the 25-21win. Capps and Benford each had four kills in the set. Higgins delivered 10 assists and Capps had one service ace.
The Vikings closed out the match with a 25-10 victory in the third set. Augustana never trailed in the final set as the hosts jumped out to an 8-2 lead and never looked back. Bailey, Higgins and Major each had two kills in the set.
