ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst volleyball team finished the CCIW regular season with a 4-4 mark after dropping a tightly-contested 20-25, 25013, 19-25, 27-25, 11-15 match with Illinois Wesleyan University.
Elmhurst (9-20 overall) build an early 5-1 lead in the first only to have Illinois Wesleyan (9-19, 6-2 CCIW) storm back and grab an 11-8 lead with a 10-3 run. The set was even at 14-14 when the Titans used a 7-1 run to open up a 21-15 cushion en route to the 25-20 win.
Elmhurst grabbed a 2-1 lead in the second and never looked back. The Bluejays led 9-7 before rattling off a 14-3 run to blow the set open at 23-10 before putting away the Titans 25-13. IWU answered right back in the third, jumping out to a 10-5 lead after 15 points and cruising to the 25-19 win.
The fourth set was back-and-forth with both teams holding onto late leads. Elmhurst led 21-18 only to see Illinois Wesleyan use a 6-1 run to earn a pair of match points at 24-22. A bad set by the Titans and an ace from
Valerie Thomas pulled Elmhurst even at 24-24. IWU fought off an Elmhurst set point to tie the score at 25-all, but kills by
Ellie Burzlaff and
Payton Froats gave the Bluejays the fourth set at 27-25.
Elmhurst built an early 6-4 lead in the fifth, but Illinois Wesleyan answered back with a 4-0 run to lead 8-6 on the side change. Elmhurst pulled to within a point at 11-10 and again at 12-11, but the Titans won the final three points to put away the set and the match.
Elmhurst finished the match hitting .192 with 62 kills and 27 errors in 182 attempts.
Bailey Brouwer had an impressive senior-night match, totaling a match-high 19 kills to go along with five blocks and a .326 hitting percentage. Burzlaff added 12 kills for the Bluejays while
Taylor Zurliene,
Emily Duis and
Kayla Mast finished with seven kills apiece. Duis added five blocks while Mast totaled 15 digs. Zurliene added 13 digs and three aces in the loss.
Emily Finkbeiner totaled 27 assists and 14 digs while Thomas led the squad in digs with 20.
Hannah Horn added 16 assists and five kills for Elmhurst.
Illinois Wesleyan was led by Emily Steininger's 17 kills. Jessica McCall added 12 kills and 13 digs while Courtney McAulife tallied 10 kills and four blocks. Madi Corey totaled 46 assists for the Titans.
Elmhurst finished the CCIW regular season with a 4-4 mark and after a loss by Carroll University, the Bluejays appear to be in line for a first-round CCIW Tournament home match. The tournament field will be announced later this weekend.
Elmhurst takes on Beloit College and Concordia University (Wis.) this Saturday (November 2) at the Wisconsin Lutheran College Invitational
