Volleyball: #11 Ohio Northern (5-0 Overall) vs. Illinois Wesleyan (4-2 Overall), Rose-Hulman (Ind.) (2-2 Overall) and Monmouth (Ill.) (5-1 Overall) in Illinois Wesleyan Invitational

Friday-Saturday, September 10-11, 2021 – Shirk Center, Bloomington, Ill.

| ONU Volleyball Tournament Page |

Preview: The Illinois Wesleyan Invitational is a five-team event with nine games spread over two days at Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center in Bloomington … Matches are being held at 5:30 and 8 p.m. on Friday and at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday … The event features teams from No. 11 Ohio Northern, Illinois Wesleyan, Earlham (Ind.), Monmouth (Ill.) and Rose-Hulman (Ind.) … ONU will play three games in the tournament starting with an 8 p.m. match on Friday against Illinois Wesleyan on Court 1 and concluding with Saturday matches against Rose-Hulman (Ind.) at 11 a.m. on Court 2 and against Monmouth (Ill.) at 1 p.m. on Court 1 … At 5-0, Northern is off to its best start since 2010 when it also opened the season with five straight victories … The Polar Bears are coming off a 3-2 win at Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday in which they came all the way back from being down two sets to none … Seniors Melina Woods (18 kills), Hannah Irmer (31 digs) and Kiki Carle (47 assists) led the way for ONU in Wednesday's comeback victory … Northern is hitting .249 on the season and averaging 12.8 kills, 18.1 digs, 11.8 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.3 aces per set … Leading the way for the Polar Bears this season are Woods (73 kills), Irmer (128 digs), Carle (192 assists) and freshmen Taylor Baxter (22 blocks) and Rachel Jennings (9 aces) … Irmer is tops in the Ohio Athletic Conference with the 128 digs and 6.1 digs per set while Woods and Baxter lead the conference in hitting percentage at .381 and .345, respectively … Woods ranks second in the conference in kills while Carle is second in assists per set (9.14) … Illinois Wesleyan enters its home tournament with a record of 4-2 … The Titans have recorded sweeps of Illinois College, Lynchburg (Va.) and Christopher Newport (Va.) … The Titans are averaging 12.8 kills, 12.1 assists, 1.9 aces, 16.2 digs and 2 blocks per set with a hitting percentage of .201 … Illinois Wesleyan is led by seniors Courtney McAuliffe (59 kills, 23 blocks), Madi Corey (121 assists) and Amber Juarez (74 digs) and freshman Ava Porada (10 aces) … Head coach Kim Nelson-Brown is in her 25^th season leading the Titans and has a 485-348 record for a winning percentage of .582 … Rose-Hulman (Ind.) sits at 2-2 on the season with wins over Illinois College and Knox (Ill.) … The Fightin' Engineers are averaging 10.3 kills, 10.1 assists, 2.4 aces, 15.3 digs and 0.9 blocks per set with a hitting percentage of .128 … The Engineers are led by junior Elizabeth Canon (51 kills), sophomores Sophia Koop (65 digs, 12 aces) and Allie Fults (12 blocks) and freshman Jillian Gregg (102 assists) … Head coach Rachel Sellari-Delsi is in her fourth season at Rose-Hulman with an overall record of 38-38 for a winning percentage of .500 … Monmouth (Ill.) is 5-1 on the season with wins over Lincoln Christian (Ill.), Rose-Hulman (Ind.), Blackburn (Ill.), Concordia (Ill.) and Eureka (Ill.) … The Fighting Scots are averaging 11.2 kills, 10.9 assists, 1.7 aces, 18.8 digs and 1.9 blocks per set with a hitting percentage of .190 … Monmouth is led by seniors Karlie Drish (136 assists), Loryn Beal (15 aces) and Kaylee Woodard (129 digs) and juniors Sarah LaHood (22 blocks) and Amanda Dybal (62 kills) … Head coach Emily Thebeau is in her fourth year at Monmouth (Ill.) and has an overall record of 30-32 for a winning percentage of .484.

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Illinois Wesleyan by a 6-3 margin … The teams last played in 2019 with the Polar Bears getting a 3-0 win in the ONU Invitational … Northern leads the all-time series with Rose-Hulman (Ind.) by a 1-0 margin after getting a 3-0 win in 2017 … This will be the first-ever meeting between ONU and Monmouth (Ill.).

Head Coach Katie Kuhn: Kuhn is in her second season as the head women's volleyball coach at Ohio Northern with an 18-3 record, a winning percentage of .857.