Elmhurst College sneaks into CCIW volleyball tournament
It took until the final day of the regular season and plenty of help from an unexpected ally, but the Elmhurst College women's volleyball team earned a spot in the CCIW playoffs.
The Bluejays went into Wednesday night on the outside of the playoffs looking in. They needed help to earn the fourth and final spot in the conference playoffs. Sitting at 4-3 in conference, Elmhurst would have been left out after a three-team tiebreaker had them in fifth place.
However, after North Central's upset victory in a five-set match over Illinois Wesleyan, the Bluejays will live to see another day. North Central, only 2-5 in conference this season, went out to an early two-set lead against Illinois Wesleyan before dropping the next two sets. In the final set North Central held on to win 15-13 in front of its senior night crowd.
Now with the final spot locked up the Bluejays will prepare for for conference playoffs where they will begin by playing conference regular-season champion Carthage. In their only matchup of the season, Elmhurst lost at Carthage 3-1.
Elmhurst is just one year removed from a CCIW regular-season and conference championship. This year, if the Bluejays hope to repeat, they will need to do so at Carthage on Thursday and again Friday if they win.
Wheaton College:
With two games left in the season, the Wheaton football team needs only one more win to secure a conference title. After a dominant victory over Elmhurst on Saturday, the Thunder has the tiebreaker to take the title even if it splits its final games.
If The Thunder does secure the title outright, it would be the first time in a while. The Wheaton team earned a share of the title in 2012, but was left out of the playoffs due to a tiebreaker. With the conference championship the Thunder would return to the NCAA playoffs for the first time since 2008.
Wheaton will close their 2014 regular season with a home game against Illinois Wesleyan and on the road to play Carthage. Both teams have a 3-5 overall record and are under .500 in conference.
Both the men's and women's Wheaton soccer teams earned the regular-season conference championship and will host the CCIW playoffs.
The men's team got their CCIW Tournament play under way Wednesday night with their game against Millikin. The Thunder took the game handily, winning 4-0. Wheaton will face off against Elmhurst for the tournament championship on Saturday in Wheaton.
The women's team got under way Tuesday with a dominating 8-0 win over Elmhurst. They will play Illinois Wesleyan for the tournament championship on Saturday in Wheaton as well.