Volleyball struggles during a four game losing streak

October 26, 2017
The Wheaton Volleyball team continues to struggle to find victories as their season gets closer to the Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championship Tournament.
While Wheaton students returned to the college before classes resumed on Thursday, Oct. 19, the volleyball team traveled to Illinois Wesleyan University on Wednesday, Oct. 18 for a CCIW matchup. The Thunder lost three straight sets to the IWU Titans 25-18, 25-16 and 25-18. IWU outdid Wheaton in digs 41-32, aces 6-1, kills 54-37, assists 52-36 and blocks 5-0. Wheaton senior Katie Rohrer had 14 kills credited to her, a season high for her, and led her team offensively. IWU has an overall season record of 18-6.
Then the Thunder traveled to Dubuque, Iowa for the University of Dubuque Quad Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 21. First Wheaton faced the hosting team from the University of Dubuque. The Thunder lost in three sets with 25-14, 25-17 and 25-16. Rohrer and sophomore Madeline Moore led the teams in kills with six each, but junior Jessica Bosse dominated Wheaton’s dig count with 13. However, the Thunder were outmatched on all levels against Dubuque who was able to get 45 kills, eight aces, seven blocks, 42 assists and 53 digs. Dubuque has an overall season record of 26-2.
After losing to Dubuque, Wheaton faced Loras College in a much closer matchup. Wheaton lost after three sets again, but each individual set was more evenly matched. The Thunder lost the first set 25-22, the second 25-20 and the third 25-20. All levels of the game were nearly even, and Wheaton was able to execute more digs than Loras throughout the game. A combination of a good kill performance by Moore and Rohrer, 10 and eight kills respectively, and Bosse’s 21 digs kept the Thunder close to Loras. Loras College has an overall record of 11-15.
On Tuesday, Oct. 24, the Wheaton Thunder lost to Augustana 3-1. The Thunder rolled onto the court in the first set with energy and were able to win 25-19, but with each set after that Augustana pulled away, winning the second set 25-20, the third set 25-15 and the fourth set 25-10. Bosse once again had a big dig performance with 29 digs, and Moore, sophomore Ellie Brown and Rohrer led Wheaton in kills with nine, six and six respectively.
Despite high hopes for change at the beginning of the season, the Wheaton Volleyball team has only one game left against Carthage College on Halloween at 7 p.m. at King Arena on campus, and will end their season either 5-20 or 4-21. With a conference record of 1-6 before Tuesday’s upcoming game against the Lady Reds, Wheaton might face another early elimination from the CCIW Tournament.