Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton volleyball team (3-4) opened its Marilyn Scribner Invitational on Friday with an impressive back-and-forth win against Aurora University (4-5). The Thunder defeated the Spartans 3-2. Wheaton won the first set 25-21 and Aurora picked up a 25-19 victory in the second set. The Thunder defeated the Spartans 25-21 in the third set and Aurora was a 25-14 victor in the fourth set. Wheaton rallied for a 15-12 victory in the decisive fifth set.
Emerson Traweek registered a team-high 20 kills for Wheaton in the match and
Caroline Capps had 16.
Jordan Benford recorded seven kills and
Faith Bailey had six. Setter
Lacey Higgins had 44 assists.
Ashton Major had three service aces for the hosts. Bailey had five total blocks, with three two solo blocks.
Grace Autry recorded a team-high 18 digs, and Capps added 14.
Wheaton won the first set 25-21. The set was tied 4-4 when Wheaton out-scored the Spartans 7-2 to take an 11-6 lead. The Thunder never relinquished the lead in the set, although the Spartans did cut the lead to one point at 13-12. Traweek had eight kills in the set, with 13 assists for Higgins. Autry added six digs.
The Spartans won the second set 25-19. The Thunder gained an early 7-4 lead, when Aurora responded with a 9-2 surge to take a 13-9 lead. The guests remained in control in earning the 25-19 lead. Capps (PICTURED LEFT) had a team-high three kills in the set and Higgins added eight assists. Capps and Autry each tallied three digs.
Wheaton rebounded to win the third set 25-21. The set was tightly contest when a kill by Benford broke a 17-17 and her kill gave Wheaton an 18-17 edge and the lead for good. Following the kill by Benford, Higgins and Capps each recorded two kills to close out the set. Capps had three kills in the set, with three for Traweek. Higgins had 12 assists, and Bailey had two total blocks.
Aurora jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth set in earning in convincing 25-14 victory. Capps had two kills in the fourth set.
Wheaton rallied to win the decisive fifth set 15-12. The set was tied 4-4 when Traweek tallied a kill to give Wheaton a 5-4 lead. The Spartans responded with four-consecutive points to take an 8-5 lead. Aurora led 9-8 when Major put up two-consecutive service aces to give the hosts a 10-9 lead. Capps then recorded a kill to increase Wheaton's lead to 11-9. Wheaton led 12-11 when an Aurora service error increased the Thunder lead to 13-11. Aurora trimmed Wheaton's lead to 13-12, but back-to-back kills by Bailey and Traweek closed out the match as Wheaton won 15-12.
Wheaton closes out its annual tournament on Saturday with two matches. The Thunder entertain IIT at 9:00 a.m. in Saturday's opening session. Wheaton's final match of the weekend is a matchup against Bethel University (Minn.) at 1:00 p.m.
