By IWU Sports Information
BLOOMINGTON – The Illinois Wesleyan volleyball team was chosen as an at-large entry for the 2017 NCAA Division III championships and will host an eight-team regional at the Shirk Center from Thursday through Saturday.
The Titans (22-7) will take on the University of Chicago (23-8) on Thursday at 8 p.m. with other first-day games being Washington U. (24-9) vs. defending national champion Calvin College (26-3) at 12:30 p.m., followed by College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin regular season champion Millikin (28-7) vs. Greenville College (26-7) at 3 p.m., and CCIW tournament champion Carthage College (25-8) vs. Concordia Wisconsin (26-2) at 5:30 p.m.
The winners will meet in the regional semifinals at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday withe the championship game set for 7 p.m. Saturday.
Illinois Wesleyan is making its fifth all-time NCAA tournament appearance with others coming in 2015, 1998, 1997, and 1991. IWU has a 1-4 record in national tourney play.
All-CCIW
Four Titan volleyball players have been named to the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin 2017 All-Conference Volleyball Team. Juniors Tyler Brown, Maddie Williams, and Rachel Burkman all were chosen to the first team while senior Kyleigh Block was a second team honoree.
Brown ranked fifth in the CCIW for kills during conference play with 3.34 kills/set in 97 sets played. Defensively, Brown ranked seventh in the CCIW with 4.76 digs per set and was the only player in the conference to appear on both top 10 lists for kills and digs per set. This is the second consecutive season Brown has been named a first team all-conference selection.
In her first season as a Titan, Williams was named a first team all-conference selection. Williams ranked as one of the best defensive middle hitters in the conference this season averaging 0.93 blocks per set for a total of 27 blocks (nine solo, 18 assisted) during CCIW competition. Her nine solo blocks also ranked second in the conference. Offensively, Williams hit .246 with 50 kills in conference play.
Burkman is making her first appearance on the all-conference first team in 2017. As a junior Burkman ranked fourth in the CCIW in attacking efficiency with a .292 hitting percentage during conference play. Burkman finished conference play with 76 kills on 195 attempts.
Block appears on the CCIW second team for the third time of her career in 2017 and concludes her career with an all-conference designation in each of her four seasons. Her 0.38 aces per set ranked third in the conference this season and she finished conference play with 11 in total.
