Chicago, Ill. - The Illinois Tech men's volleyball team opened NACC play picking up where the left off in non-conference play: winning. The Scarlet Hawks defeated Rockford University 3-0 Tuesday night at the Keating Sports Center. With the win, the Scarlet Hawks improved to 5-2 overall on the season (1-0 NACC). The team has now won five of their last six matches. The Regents fell to 2-10 overall (0-1 NACC).

The Hawks never trailed in the first set, holding an eight point lead on multiple occasions before taking the first set by 10 points, 25-15.

Rockford rebounded with better play to start the second set, playing even with the Hawks at 4-4. The Hawks were able to build a five-point advantage before Rockford pulled within two points late at 22-20. The Hawks finished with a 3-1 run to win set two.

The final set played out similar to set two, with Rockford hanging close throughout most of the match before the Hawks pulled away late to win the set 25-20 and take the match.

Set Scores

• Illinois Tech 3 - Rockford 0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-20)

 Match Highlights and Notes

• Riley Laite paced the Hawks with 11 kills, good for a .318 attack percentage.
• Michal Markevych added 10 kills and seven digs.
• Grant Couper finished with nine kills.
• Lucas Guanes had 26 assists and 12 digs in the contest.
• The Regents were led by Jose Padron (eight kills and six digs), Josh Albers (18 assists), and Da'Quan Bates (eight digs).

 Up Next

• The Hawks are back at the Keating Sports Center on Saturday, February 19th for a tri-match, opening with MSOE in a NACC matchup at 11:00am, followed by a non-conference tilt with Saint Xavier at 3pm. MSOE and Saint Xavier will play the middle match at 1:00pm.