MARION, Ind. -- Indiana Wesleyan University volleyball is heading west to Sioux City, Iowa for the fourth straight season as they defeated Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) 3-2 in Luckey Arena in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round.

Indiana Wesleyan (33-7) won by scores of 25-16, 27-29, 25-18, 22-25, 15-6. IWU has won an NAIA National Championship Opening Round match for the second straight year and has won its last three Opening Round matches.

The Wildcats are one of 12 teams that won Opening Round matches on Saturday. Those 12 teams will join the top-11 seeds that received byes plus the tournament host in Sioux City at the final site. The 24 teams will be placed in one of six pools of four teams on Sunday. The top two teams from each pool will advance to a single elimination tournament. The NAIA National Championship resumes on December 2-6.

Indiana Wesleyan finishes the season with a perfect 18-0 mark in Luckey Arena and improve to 7-1 in matches that go five sets. Their only five set loss this season came to No. 9 Columbia (Mo.) in the very first match of the season on August 22.

“We have heart,” said IWU head coach Candace Moats. “We find a way to do it every time. Sometimes I don’t know how we’re doing it but they are finding their heart and getting it done.”

Indiana Wesleyan won the opening match 25-16 and nearly gained a 2-0 advantage in the second set. IWU led 24-22 but failed to close the win. Indiana Wesleyan fended off Cardinal Stritch three times on set point before the Wolves evened the match with a 29-27 win.

The Wildcats regained the lead 2-1 with a 25-18 set three victory but once again the Wolves responded and won the fourth set 25-22. The Wolves earned a quick advantage of 3-1 in the decisive fifth set. But the Wildcats answered with authority as they scored 14 of the final 19 points for the 15-6 win.

Remy Bucknor (SO/Euless, Texas) led Indiana Wesleyan with 17 kills, a .324 hitting percentage, and one solo and four block assists. Bianca Cifaldi (SO/Itasca, Ill.) matched Bucknor with 17 kills while Alijah Mulitauopele (SR/Colorado Springs, Colo.) contributed 13 kills and Morgan Miller (FR/Goshen, Ind.) had 11. Kylie Portera (SO/Lake in the Hills, Ill.) was the fifth Wildcat with double digit kills as she earned 10. Katey Holler (JR/Marion, Ohio) assisted on 33 kills while Emily Workman (FR/Tinley Park, Ill.) had 29 assists. Banner Rodgers (FR/Carrollton, Texas) served five of the nine Indiana Wesleyan aces in the match.

“Our serving really helped us,” stated Moats. “I don’t think could have stopped them at the net if we couldn’t have gotten them out of system most of the time. They are just too good at the net.”

Indiana Wesleyan collected 89 digs in the match and was led by Ashlen Buck (SO/Brazil, Ind.) with 23. Holler totaled 22 digs and Miller tallied 12.

Cardinal Stritch was paced by Kendyl Danelski and Tayler Heggs. Danelski earned a match-high 22 kills while Heggs added 15. Kelsey Johnson finished the afternoon with 45 assists.

“No. 8 and No. 13 for them were outstanding,” Moats said. “They are by far better than any player that we’ve seen in the league. We’ve seen some players like them but most teams have just one.”

Indiana Wesleyan will make the trek out to Sioux City, Iowa for the fourth consecutive year. The NAIA national office will release pools and schedule for the final site on Sunday.