by Eric Willuweit
Chicago, Ill. – After a successful trip in Ohio last weekend, in which the Illinois Tech men's volleyball team won two of three matches, the Scarlet Hawks returned home Saturday and continued their winning ways, defeating Fontbonne University 3-1 Saturday morning at the Keating Center. The Scarlet Hawks improved to 3-4 on the season. The Griffins fell to 3-5 overall.
Jackson Van Engen once again paced the Scarlet Hawks on the offensive attack, finishing with 12 kills. Elis Sherman quarterbacked the offense, assisting on 31 scores while contributing 3 total blocks.
"We were fortunate to have a week of practice to scout and plan for today," said Head Coach Mike Oswald. "I'm really happy for the team and appreciate our complete focused effort today. Our sideline provided energy to keep momentum and allow our key contributors to focus on execution. We really demonstrated some areas of development we've been striving for today," said Oswald.
How It Happened
- The Scarlet Hawks started out hot, jumping to a 10-3 lead in the opening set. The Griffins battled back, pulling within three points at 11-8. Fontbonne stayed within four points for the middle stretch of the set before the Scarlet Hawks responded with an 8-3 run to close out set one with a 25-16 victory.
- Set two began as a tight affair, with neither team able to open a significant advantage, as Fontbonne held a 9-8 lead. The Scarlet Hawks turned things around at that point, using a 9-0 run to take control of the set at 17-9. The Hawks just needed to play even with Fontbonne to close out the set, and that's exactly what they did, taking 8 of the final 15 points for the 25-16 set two victory.
- Fontbonne was determined not to get swept in the morning match, opening set three with an 11-4 run. The Scarlet Hawks would pull within two points at 16-14, but the Griffins closed out the set on a 9-1 run to win set three 25-15.
- In set four, the Scarlet Hawks and the Griffins played even to 4-4. A 9-3 run by Illinois Tech shifted the set in their favor 13-7. A point by Fontbonne pulled the Griffins to 13-8, but that would be as close as they would get. Illinois Tech would use a 12-7 run to close out the final set 25-15 to take the match 3-1.
Scarlet Hawk Standouts
- Van Engen paced the Hawks with 12 kills to go with a .391 attack percentage. He also recorded 1 solo block and 1 block assist.
- Grant Couper added 10 kills with a .562 attack rate.
- Michal Markevych added 8 kills, 2 service aces, 6 digs and 2 total blocks.
- Alec Donald paced with 16 digs.
- Eli Sherman finished with 31 assists and 3 total blocks.
Fontbonne Watch
- Ryan Lively led the Griffins with 13 kills.
- Joseph Huster had 4 solo blocks.
- Alex Gantt led with 16 assists.
Up Next
In a quirk in the schedule, the Scarlet Hawks will have their first conference match of the season when they travel to Milwaukee, Wis. Wednesday night to face MSOE in a NACC matchup at 7:00 PM. Then the Hawks will resume non-conference play for the remainder of the month until February 28th, when they resume conference play to take on NACC foe Rockford.