MARIETTA, Ohio — Illinois Wesleyan defeated Franklin and Marshall in straight sets 28-26, 25-13, and 25-23 Thursday afternoon in Ban Johnson Arena to advance to the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Tournament.
 
Illinois Wesleyan (23-9) was led by Taylor French with 16 kills while Hannah Taylor and Alex Bardouniotis each had double digit kills with 12 and 10. Sophia Feeney finished with 24 assists while Kannyn Boyd had 18 digs.
 
Franklin and Marshall (23-7) was led by Coco Shultz with 11 kills. Liah Perez had 16 assists and Bella Ganfield with 13 digs.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set One
Illinois Wesleyan got off to a 4-to-1 lead as both teams made errors to start. Franklin and Marshall got three kills from Avery Grantham in a 9-2 run to lead 10-to-6. Illinois Wesleyan then went on an 11-2 run as Tellor had five kills for the Titans as they led 17-to-12. F&M went on another run this time being 7-1 as Mya Anderson had two kills. Illinois Wesleyan was down 23-to-20 and took the lead at 24-to-23 as both teams battled to ties at 24, 25, and 26 until the final two points went the way of Illinois Wesleyan winning 28-to-26.

Set Two
Franklin & Marshall got out to a 5-to-2 lead but Illinois Wesleyan responded with a 7-3 run as French and Bardouniotis each had two kills to take the lead. Three hitting errors from F&M along with two more kills from French pushed the Illinois Wesleyan lead out to 17-to-11. Illinois Wesleyan finished the set on a 7-0 run which included three service aces to end the set winning 25-to-13.

Set Three
A back and forth start for both teams as each went on runs to tie the game at seven. Illinois Wesleyan then took command on an 8-1 run that saw two kills from Tellor and a service ace from French and Kannyn Boyd. F&M came all the way back to take an 18-to-17 lead as they caused seven hitting errors from Illinois Wesleyan. Illinois Wesleyan regained the lead at 20-to-18 and finished off the set winning 25-to-23.

UP NEXT
Illinois Wesleyan will await the winner of the host Marietta versus St. John Fisher with that match beginning at 7:00 PM on Friday in Marietta.