GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Indiana Wesleyan University volleyball team won three of four matches this weekend at the Panther Invitational hosted by Davenport in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Indiana Wesleyan defeated #RV Trinity Christian (Ill.) 3-2 and Saint Ambrose (Iowa) 3-0 on Friday and followed with a 3-1 victory against #RV Saint Thomas (Fla.) and a 3-0 loss to No. 7 Viterbo (Wis.) on Saturday. Indiana Wesleyan is now 20-5 on the season.

Indiana Wesleyan opened play today with a 25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 25-17 victory against Saint Thomas and finished the weekend with a 25-27, 12-25, 23-25 loss to top-10 Viterbo.

“Weekends like this develop teams in maturity and give them the confidence to believe more in themselves,” said IWU head coach Candace Moats. “That is exactly what happened to our ladies. They reached higher, expected more of each other, and made some outstanding plays. That propelled them in the last match with Viterbo that they could win. We played right with them and learned what it takes to be in the top-10.”

In the win against Saint Thomas, Bianca Cifaldi (SO/Itasca, Ill.) and Remy Bucknor (SO/Euless, Texas) led the way for the Wildcats with 14 kills apiece. Bucknor hit .462 while Cifaldi had a .345 hitting percentage. Morgan Miller (FR/Goshen, Ind.) contributed 13 kills and Kristin Predajna (JR/Fishers, Ind.) added 11 kills. Katey Holler (JR/Marion, Ohio) assisted on a season-best 50 of those kills while Banner Rodgers (FR/Carrollton, Texas) served four of the six IWU aces.

The Wildcats blocked eight Saint Thomas kill attempts and were led by Bucknor and Miller with four block assists each. Kylie Portera (SO/Lake in the Hills, Ill.) finished with one solo and two block assists. Ashlen Buck (SO/Brazil, Ind.) collected 29 digs.

In the final match against Viterbo, Cifaldi and Miller each connected on 11 kills while Holler amassed 36 assists. Buck had a team-high 23 digs while Bucknor and Miller each had three block assists. Portera totaled one solo and two block assists.

Indiana Wesleyan returns home for three Crossroads League matches this coming week. IWU hosts Spring Arbor (Mich.) on Wednesday, Bethel (Ind.) on Friday, and Goshen (Ind.) on Saturday.  The Friday match with Bethel, IWU will accept non-perishable food items for the St. Martin’s Community Center and Saturday will be Breast Cancer Awareness Month.