Rock Island, Ill. – The Wheaton volleyball team (8-4, 0-2 CCIW) resumed conference play on Wednesday with a road contest at Augustana (6-6, 1-1 CCIW) as the Thunder entered the contest looking for their first win in Rock Island since 2014. Wheaton won two of the first three sets tonight, however, the Vikings rallied to win the final two set in picking up a 3-2 victory (15-25, 25-22, 25-20, 27-25, 15-9) against the Thunder.
Emerson Traweek led the Thunder with 18 kills, recording just two errors in posting a .421 hitting percentage. Traweek also had 24 receptions, with just one error.
Caroline Capps recorded 17 kills, with
Ashton Major tallying 10 kills.
Jordan Benford added six kills, and
Katherine Adkison tallied five.
Setter
Lacey Higgins led Wheaton with a match-high 49 assists. Major had a match-high five service aces and Higgins added three. Libero
Grace Autry had team highs of 19 digs and 25 service receptions for the Thunder. Higgins contributed 15 digs and
Sydney Overweg tallied 11.
Wheaton convincingly won the first set 25-15. The set opened as a tightly contested event. The set was tied 8-8 when Wheaton posted a 6-1 run to gain a 14-9 lead. The guests' largest lead of the set was the 10-point bulge in the 25-15 victory. Capps had seven kills in the set with a .385 hitting percentage. Higgins had nine assists in the set.
The Vikings won the second set 25-22. The set was tied 3-3 when the Vikings out-scored Wheaton 7-2 to gain a 10-5 lead. The hosts never lost the lead in winning the set to tie the match score at 1-1. Traweek and Adkison each had four kills in the set with 11 assists for Higgins.
Wheaton earned a 25-20 victory in the third set. The set was tied 6-6 when the Thunder scored twice to gain an 8-6 lead. The guests never trailed for the rest of the set. Wheaton's largest lead of the match was five points, occurring five times and the final occurrence was 25-20 to close out the set. Capps and Traweek each had four kills in the set, with Higgins distributing nine assists and five digs for Adkison.
Augustana rallied to win the fourth set 27-25. The Vikings gained an early 9-6 lead in the set. The Vikings led 16-14 when Wheaton responded with six-consecutive points to take a 20-16 lead in the set. The 6-0 run was highlighted by a kill and service ace by Major with Benford adding a kill. The Vikings responded to tie the set at 23-23 when Traweek tallied a kill to give the Thunder a 24-23 lead and a serve for match point. Augustana's Carli Udovich responded with a kill to tie the set at 24-24 and the hosts' Alexis Richards recorded a service ace to give the Vikings a 25-24 lead. Traweek had a kill on the next point to tie the set at 25-25. Augustana scored the next two points to earn the 27-25 win. Traweek had seven kills in the set, with three apiece for Major and Benford. Higgins had 12 assists and five digs. Autry recorded six digs in the set.
Augustana won the decisive fifth set 15-9. The set was tied at 3-3 when the hosts had a 5-1 run to take an 8-4 lead. Augustana maintained the lead for the rest of the set to win it 15-9 and earning the 3-2 victory in the match. Benford, Major and Capps each had two kills in the set. Higgins had eight assists and Autry had seven digs.
Wheaton travels to Ada, Ohio this weekend to participate in Ohio Northern University's "ONU Invitational" on Friday and Saturday. Wheaton opens the tournament on Friday at 7:30 p.m. (EDT) against the host Polar Bears of Ohio Northern.
