Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton volleyball team opened its Marilyn Scribner Invitational on Friday afternoon in the King Arena, with the first of three matches this weekend for the hosts. Wheaton defeated Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-16, 25-21) in the opening session. Today's win improves Wheaton to 6-2 on the season, while Rose-Hulman falls to 3-6.
Wheaton plays two matches on Saturday. The Thunder entertain Lawrence University at 11:00 a.m. in Saturday's opening session. Wheaton closes out the tournament at 4:00 p.m. against Concordia University-Chicago.
The Thunder handily won the first set 25-15 in today's 3-1 win against Rose-Hulman. The hosts scored the first five points and never trailed in the opening set. The Thunder led by nine at 14-5 in earning the 25-15 victory.
Caroline Capps and Katherine Adkinson each had four kills in the set.
Lacey Higgins added nine assists, with
Grace Autry adding five digs. The hosts tallied 15 kills in the set.
The Fightin' Engineers won the second set 25-22. It was a set that saw 10 ties and four lead changes. Much of the set was back-and-forth, including a 13-13 tie. The Thunder broke the tie with four-consecutive points to take a 17-13 lead. Wheaton held a 20-17 lead when Rose-Hulman responded with seven-consecutive points to take a 24-20 lead. Wheaton answered with two points to cut the guests' lead to 24-22, but RHIT got a kill to end the set at 25-22. Adkison and Traweek each led the Thunder with four kills and Capps added three.
Paige Syswerda was the team's assist leader with seven, as Autry recorded eight digs.
Wheaton convincingly won the third set 25-16 as the hosts never trailed. The Thunder jumped out to a 9-2 lead in earning the easy win. Adkison had a team-high five kills with an impressive .571 attack percentage. Traweek, Capps and
Jordan Benford each had three kills. Higgins distributed nine assists, with seven digs for Autry. The Thunder recorded an impressive 17 kills in the set.
Wheaton won a tightly contested fourth set 25-21 to win the match 3-1. The set was tied 10 times with eight lead changes. Wheaton held a 5-3 lead when the Fightin' Engineers responded with a 5-1 run to give RHIT an 8-6 lead. Rose-Hulman's final lead was a 16-15 advantage when the Thunder used a string of six-consecutive points to take a 21-16 lead. Adkison registered two kills and Capps added a service ace in the 6-0 run. Rose-Hulman responded with five-straight points to tie the set at 21-21.
Sydney Overweg tallied a kill to give Wheaton a 22-21 lead, and a block by Benford and Overweg increased the hosts' lead to 23-21. Adkison tallied an ace to increase her team's lead to 24-21, and Benford and Overweg recorded another block to close out the set 25-21. Capps had five kills in posting a .400 attack percentage. Adkison also tallied five kills for the Thunder. Higgins had seven assists, with Adkison registering three service aces.
Adkison had a career-high 18 kills in the match, with a .333 attack percentage, adding four service aces, with 11 digs. Capps tallied 15 kills, with nine kills for Traweek.
Ashton Major had six kills with a .364 attack percentage.
Lacey Higgins had 31 assists, and Syswerda tallied 15. Autry led the Thunder with 23 digs, while Overweg and Major each had four total blocks.
