CHICAGO, Ill. - The Illinois Tech men's volleyball team played host to the Cardinals of North Central College in the back end of a Women's Basketball/Men's Volleyball doubleheader on Tuesday night in the Keating Sports Center. Tech battled the Cardinals neck-and-neck for most of the night, but came away short in four sets.

Set Scores

• North Central 3, Tech 1 (15-25, 25-18, 18-25, 20-25)

How it Happened

• It was a sluggish start to the night for the Scarlet Hawks, as Tech hit -.107% in the first set and trailed for almost the set's entirety. North Central utilized a 6-0 run late to build a 23-13 lead before closing the set out shortly after.
• The Scarlet Hawks flipped the script in set two. After NCC took a small 5-4 lead, Tech went on a 7-0 run to go up 11-5. The Cardinals were able to pull to within one on three seperate occasions and as late as 18-17, but the Scarlet Hawks put together a 6-0 run highlighted by three Lukasz Kupiec kills. Another Kupiec gave Tech its 25th and final point in the set victory.
• Set three started much like set two ended, as the Scarlet Hawks went up 8-3 behind two Yuriy Shepta kills and forced the Cardinals to call two timeouts within the game's first 11 points. NCC, however, found a second gear, going on an 8-2 run to take a lead. The Cardinals never looked back en route to the set three win.
• In set four, the Scarlet Hawks ended up taking the earliest significant advantge at 12-9. The Cardinals responded with an 8-1 run to take a 18-14 lead, but Tech came back to pull to within one at 24-20. However, the Cardinals took advantage of three attack errors down the stretch to clinch the match.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Kupiec recorded a triple-double with 11 kills, 13 assists, and 11 digs. His .320 hitting percentage also led Tech. It was his fourth straight double-double.
• Andrew Woltman led the team with 16 assists.
• Derek Bostick tallied a match-high 17 digs.
• David Allen tallied eight kills and nine digs.

Stats to Know

• Tech had more kills (38-37), but hit .037% compared to NCC's .171%.
• Tech outdug the Cardinals 55-51.
• NCC's advantages in blocks (5 solo, 11 assisted compared to Tech's 2 solo, 4 assisted) and aces (6-2) were instrumental to the Cardinals' win.

Up Next

• The Scarlet Hawks will head to St. Louis, Missouri on Friday evening to take on the Fontbonne University Griffins at 5:00 p.m. Live video and stats will be available courtsey of Fontbonne.