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Elmhurst University Athletics

Events and Results

Events and Results

Women's Volleyball

Bluejays Hammer Big Blue; Advance to CCIW Tourney Finals

Box Score ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst volleyball team, ranked ninth in the latest AVCA poll, advanced to the championship match of the CCIW Tournament with a 25-11, 25-12, 25-22 victory over Millikin University.

Elmhurst improved to 28-7 on the season while Millikin wrapped up the year at 25-10.

The Bluejays sprinted out to a 10-1 lead in the opening set and cruised to a 25-11 opening set victory.

The second set started nearly identical to the opening set as Elmhurst raced out to an 11-5 lead and slowly built a 12-point advantage and pulled away for the 13-point win.

Elmhurst College Volleyball
The Big Blue responded in the third set, trading points with the Bluejays for the first 15 points and then building a 20-16 lead. Elmhurst answered back with five straight points behind Erin Thill's serve to take a 21-20 lead. The Big Blue knotted the score at 21-21, but the Bluejays scored two straight from a Megan Reynolds kill and an ace by Hannah Lessen. Millikin pulled to within a point at 23-22, but kills from Kaitlyn Wilks and Sam Szarmach ended the set and the match for the Bluejays.

Elmhurst College Volleyball
Elmhurst finished the contest hitting .337 (43-11-95) while Millikin struggled with its attacking finishing the game with a .026 hitting percentage (27-24-115). Elmhurst dominated at the net, finishing with 13 blocks.

The Bluejays used a balanced attack on offense as Antonéya Veasy Smith and Wilks finished with nine kills apiece. Wilks added five blocks in the victory. Reynolds finished with eight kills and a team-leading six blocks while Marci Novak totaled seven kills. Szarmach finished with five kills for the Bluejays. Thill totaled a team-leading 24 assists to go with 15 digs while Katie Rueffer chipped in with nine assists and four kills. Hannah Lessen finished with a team-high 21 digs.

The Bluejays can earn the CCIW's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a win in the tournament championship match tomorrow (November 3) at 2:00 p.m. Elmhurst will face sixth-seeded Wheaton after the Thunder upset second-seeded Carthage College 25-23, 19-25, 25-19, 19-25, 15-13 earlier in the day.
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