MARION, Ind. -- The Indiana Wesleyan University volleyball team closed a strong weekend of play in the Crossroads League today with a 3-1 victory over visiting Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) in Luckey Arena. The Wildcats won the match 25-23, 23-25, 25-19, 25-11.

Indiana Wesleyan defeated their rival Taylor (Ind.) last night in a jam packed Luckey Arena and then had to face Mount Vernon Nazarene 16 hours later. IWU and MVNU entered play today as two of the last three unbeaten teams in the league.

“I wish I knew I knew how to create energy like we had last night,” said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Candace Moats. “The learning classroom today was we have to understand that when we don’t have that natural energy we then have to pay attention to the details. We have to pay attention to us being good, individually and then communicating to make your teammate better. That’s the lesson that was learned today and we had to learn it as we went through the match.”

Saturday’s match was also a breakout performance by freshman opposite hitter Morgan Miller (FR/Goshen, Ind.). The Goshen, Indiana native had a match-high 23 kills in the victory with a .370 hitting percentage. The 23 kills is the fifth most in a single game in program history.

“We recognized that running behind the setter was effective,” said Moats about Miller’s performance. “The middle was not going over and they kept cheating over. And that is a tribute to some of our other good players like Remy Bucknor (SO/Euless, Texas), Bianca Cifaldi (SO/Itasca, Ill.), Alijah Mulitauopele (SR/Colorado Springs, Colo.). Those guys are causing them to think that we are going to them. But Morgan was absolutely phenomenal.”

Miller was also one of five Wildcats with double digit digs with 11. Ashlyn Buck led IWU with 15 digs, Katey Holler (JR/Marion, Ohio) had 14, Banner Rodgers (FR/Carrollton, Texas) finished with 12, and Kelly Cypher (JR/Libertyville, Ill.) added 10. Holler also assisted on 39 Wildcat kills.

Indiana Wesleyan improves to 9-3 overall and 4-0 in the Crossroads League. The win was the eighth straight for the club as they last lost on August 23. Mount Vernon Nazarene falls to 10-2 and 3-1 in league play.

IWU returns to Luckey Arena for their next match which is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday vs. Huntington (Ind.).