Bloomington, Ill. - After dropping the opening set to host Illinois Wesleyan, DePauw evened the match with a second-set win but the Titans took the final two for a 3-1 (25-15, 21-25, 25-20, 25-21) win. The Tigers dropped to 2-2, while Illinois Wesleyan improved to 2-2.
DePauw jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the opening set, but the Titans rattled off six straight points and 10 of the next 11 on the way to the win. DePauw trailed Illinois Wesleyan, 21-20, in the second, but responded with five straight points starting with three kills by
Katie Gansle.
The Titans led all the way in the third to take a 2-1 match advantage. DePauw scored three straight in the fourth set to take a 15-13 lead and still led, 19-18, before the Titans captured seven of the final nine for the match victory.
Gansle led DePauw with 12 kills and
Kaiden Harrington followed with 10, while
Olivia Karwin totaled 21 assists. Karwin and
Kendall Herrick each had two aces with
Grace Myers finishing with 19 digs and
Kerry O'Connor with six blocks.
Taylor French totaled 22 kills for Illinois Wesleyan, while Jordan Pierce assisted 20 times. Kannyn Boyd, French and Alex Bardouniotis each had two aces with Boyd totaled 29 digs and Eleanor Palmer three blocks.
The hosts held a 62-42 lead in kills and totaled eight aces to DePauw's six. DePauw led in blocks, 10-4, with the Titans leading in digs, 86-63.
The Tigers wrap up play tomorrow with a 10 a.m. CDT match against Webster and a 1 p.m.CDT contest against Loras.
