Macon Reporter

The Millikin women's volleyball team took a short turnaround in the first round of the CCIW Women's Volleyball tournament, matching up against Illinois Wesleyan just five days after falling in five sets in Bloomington against the Titans in their regular season matchup. As the third seed in the tournament, the Big Blue hosted sixth-seeded IWU in the opening round of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Tournament on Tuesday, November 1.

Millikin outkilled Wesleyan by a 65-47 margin en route to the 3-1 victory (25-18, 21-25, 25-23, 25-22). Leading the way offensively for Millikin was Tori Stuart with 19 kills and Kailee Itzenhuiser with 18. Jessi Kreder notched five blocks defensively, and Kaitlyn Skowronski tallied the top number of digs with 19. Olivia Grbavac recorded 30 set assists, and Sandy Brindl added 25. Overall, the Big Blue attacking percentage sat at .289.

For the Titans, Taylor French was the top kills getter with 18, and Faith Washko topped the digs list with 18.

In the tightly contested match, Millikin pulled away late with Kaitlyn Skowronski behind the service line in the first set. A kill by Tori Stuart gave MU a 23-16 advantage, then a Titan service error sealed the Big Blue's victory.

The third set saw a similar story. Back to back kills by Stuart pushed the Big Blue lead to 20-14 before IWU rallied to bring the score within three. Kills by Stuart and Gibbs pushed the lead back to five, then a kill off the hand of Itzenhuiser completed the victory and gave Millikin a 2-1 set advantage.

Tied late in the fourth set at 17 apiece, the Titans took a one point lead on a kill by Ellie Eager. The Big Blue once again knotted the score with a kill by Itzenhuiser. After trading points, kills by Stuart and Skowronski gave Millikin a 23-21 lead, then a kill by Itzenhuiser completed the set and sent MU to the second round of the CCIW Tournament.

The Big Blue will travel to Chicago, Ill. on Thursday, November 3 for a matchup with the second seeded Vikings of North Park University. 

Original source can be found here.