NCC's Aguilar, Venier named players of week
North Central senior kicker Ben Aguilar (Benet) and junior cornerback Tyler Venier were both honored as College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Players of the Week for their performances in Saturday's 23-7 victory over Illinois Wesleyan.
Aguilar tied a school record with 3 field goals to earn the CCIW Special Teams Player of the week. The left-footer booted field goals of 40, 30 and 27 yards. The 40-yarder was a career best. He has a dozen this season, breaking North Central's single-season record.
Venier led the Cardinals in tackles with 9 to earn CCIW Defensive Player of the week honors. He had a sack for a loss of 6 yards and 2 tackles for loss totaling 9 yards. Venier also had an interception that stopped a late Titans drive.
Volleyball: Senior Maggie Kelly made her second-straight appearance on the CCIW All-Conference volleyball team, while CJ Heckman was named to the second team for the second consecutive year.
Stephanie Ryding (Naperville Central), a libero, was honored for the first time.
Kelly, an outside hitter, led the CCIW in kills with 146 and in kills per game with a 5.62 average. Her 640 kills set a North Central single-season record, and her 1,632 career kills is also a Cardinals record.
Heckman, a setter, ranked third in the conference in assists with 294. For the season she totaled 1,355 assists, which ranks third all-time for North Central, as does her career total of 3,059 assists.
Ryding was tops in the conference in digs with 215 and sixth in aces with 12. Her 841 digs is the second-best single-season performance in school history. Her 1,538 career assists rank second all-time at North Central.
Benedictine
The Benedictine volleyball team registered its best record, 27-7, in coach Jennifer Wildes' three seasons, but lost the Northern Athletics Conference (9-4) tournament championship Saturday, to No.1-seeded Lakeland College. The Eagles finished 9-4 in the NAC.
Benedictine, which won the conference title last year, had three players on the All-NAC first team -- Kayla Leyden, Danielle Mikos and Angela Vitto.
Leyden was named the league's Rookie of the Year. She averaged 4.3 kills, 5.1 digs and .56 aces per game in her freshman year.
It was the third all-conference honor for Mikos, a middle hitter who averaged 3.36 kills and .94 blocks per game. Vitto, a setter, was a repeat member of the NAC first team who averaged 11.09 assists and 2.95 digs per game.
Libero Sarah Flores, who averaged a team-high 6.39 digs per game, was an honorable-mention selection.
Wheaton
The Wheaton men's soccer team (13-6-1) will host Carroll College (14-5-1) in the first round of the NCAA Division III men's soccer tournament at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The Thunder secured the CCIW automatic bid with a 3-0 victory over second-seeded Elmhurst on Saturday in the championship match of the CCIW tournament.
This year's trip to the postseason marks Wheaton's 30th appearance in the tournament. Tying the Thunder with Ohio Wesleyan for the most appearances of any Division III program. It will be Wheaton's 15th consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
Women's soccer: The defending national champions (22-0-0) will open their NCAA Division III women's soccer tournament at home Saturday at 6 p.m. -- in a second-round match against the winner of Wednesday's first-rounder between Carroll (Wis.) and St. Scholastica (Minn.).
Wheaton secured the CCIW's automatic bid with a 3-0 victory over Carthage on Saturday in the conference championship.
The Thunder opens the tournament with 40 consecutive victories, the second-longest winning streak in Division III women's soccer history.
This is Wheaton's 22nd consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Thunder has three Final Four appearances and won the national championship in 2004 and 2006. Wheaton's 75 percent winning percentage is the second-highest in the history of the tournament.
Volleyball: Wheaton had three players on the All-CCIW volleyball team. Junior outside hitter Mallory Sullivan was a first-team All-CCIW selection, and junior setter Annie Himmelhaver earned second-team honors.
Senior libero Leah Whiteley-Rupp was an honorable-mention selection.
Elmhurst
Elmhurst outside hitter Alison Friedrich was named to the all-CCIW volleyball second team, and middle hitter Caitlin O'Hara received honorable mention.
Friedrich, a junior, finished second on the team in kills with 233 and kills per game, 2.16. She had 126 digs, 40 blocks and 20 aces.
O'Hara, a sophomore, led the team in kills with 268, kills per game 2.44, blocks 127 and blocks per game 1.15.
Men's soccer: The Bluejays (14-4-2) finished the season Saturday with a 3-0 loss at Wheaton in the CCIW conference championship.
The Bluejays fell short in their bid for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
"I am certainly disappointed with the results of the tournament selection," said Elmhurst coach Dave Di Tomasso. "I thought we proved ourselves as one of the best teams in the country."
Elmhurst was runner-up in the CCIW regular-season standings.
The Bluejays made the finals of the tournament on the strength of a 4-2 shootout that broke a 0-0 tie with Illinois Wesleyan.
Goalkeeper Britt Blackwell made a pair of saves in the shootout, while Jon Brehm, Andrew Smith, Greg Henry and Kevin Davey converted their penalty kicks.
Next year, the Bluejays plan to return a solid nucleus, led by top scorers Brehm (14 goals, 8 assists) and Jake Pahr (13 goals, 8 assists).