Holland, Mich. – The Wheaton volleyball team (5-5) traveled to No. 2 ranked Hope College (9-0) on Wednesday night for a non-conference match against Flying Dutch. Hope won the match 3-1. Wheaton won the first set 25-23 and the hosts rebounded with a 25-17 victory in the second set. Hope was a 25-21 victor in the third set and the Flying Dutch closed out the match with a 25-20 victory in the fourth set.
Three different players each tallied 12 kills in the set as
Jordan Benford,
Caroline Capps and
Emerson Traweek each tied for the team lead in kills.
Lacey Higgins tallied 34 assists.
Grace Autry had a team-best 23 digs and Higgins added 17.
Faith Bailey had six kills and a team-high four total blocks. Capps and Higgins each had three service aces.
The Flying Dutch jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first set. The hosts led 18-12 when the Thunder scored six-consecutive points to tie the set at 18-18. The set was tied 21-21 when the Thunder scored two-consecutive points to take a 23-21 lead, the first of Wheaton's two points was a kill by Bailey. Hope rallied to tie the set at 23-23 when Wheaton scored the final two points on kills by Traweek and Major for the 25-23 win. Capps had four kills and Bailey had three in the set. Higgins tallied 11 assists in the set and Autry recorded 12 digs.
Hope won the second set 25-17. Capps had four kills in the set and Traweek tallied three kills.
Hope won the third set 25-21. The Thunder played well early in the set, jumping out to a 17-12 lead. Wheaton still had a five-point lead at 19-14 when the Flying Dutch scored six-consecutive points to give the hosts a 20-19 lead. The Thunder regained the lead at 21-20 when the hosts tallied five-consecutive points to win the set 25-21. Beford had five kills in the set and Traweek added three. Higgins had seven assists and Autry had six digs.
Hope led 10-4 on the way to a 25-20 victory in the fourth set. Benford again had five kills in the fourth set with Capps and Traweek each adding four. Higgins had 10 assists. Autry and Benford each recorded five digs in the final set.
Wheaton travels to Lisle on Saturday night for a 7:00 p.m. matchup at Benedictine.
