by Eric Willuweit

Rockford, Ill. – Coming off their 1-1 split at the Trine tri-match this past Saturday, the Illinois Tech men's volleyball team returned to conference play Tuesday night, defeating Rockford University 3-0. The Scarlet Hawks evened their NACC record to 1-1 and improved to 5-10 overall. The Regens open conference play 0-1 and fell to 4-5 overall.

Riley Laite, coming off a strong performance against Trine on Saturday, continued his surge, pacing the Scarlet Hawks with 11 kills on the evening. Paul Henderson added five kills, seven digs and three service aces.

"We're happy we were able to come out of there with a 3-0 win tonight" said Head Coach Mike Oswald. "Hats off to Rockford for their scrappy play and competitive spirit! It's tough leaving after a win feeling like you wanted to get more out of it but we really made a focus on our serving and executing tight situations. We did some 19-21 score scenarios in last night's practice so I'll take the 8-1 run to close the gap and finish the match" said Oswald.

How It Happened

Illinois Tech 3 – Rockford 0

• An early 3-1 lead by the Scarlet Hawks in the opening set would not last, as Rockford drew even at 3-3. The bulk of first set saw the teams tie the score 11 times. The Regents opened up a modest three point lead at 15-12 midway through set one, but the Scarlet Hawks countered with a 6-0 run, forcing the Regents to use both timeouts, with the last one after the Hawks jumped out to an 18-15 lead. Rockford would close to a one point deficit at 20-19, but a 5-2 run by Illinois Tech closed out the opening set 25-21.
• Set two played even the majority of the set. The difference was the Scarlet Hawks had runs of three or more points on five occasions in the set, compared to only two runs for Rockford. That disparity kept the Scarlet Hawks within striking distance throughout. With the Hawks trailing late 22-21, Illinois Tech used one of their 3-0 runs to close out set two 25-21.
• The Scarlet Hawks opened set three with a 3-1 run, but Rockford fought back, taking the next four points to take a 5-3 lead. Rockford would hold multiple three point and four point leads throughout the final set, and maxed out at a five point lead late in the set at 22-17. The Hawks would storm back, however, completing an 8-1 run to close out set three 25-23, and the match 3-0.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Laite with a team-high 11 kills while a perfect 14 of 14 in receptions.
• Henderson with 5 kills, 3 service aces, and 7 digs.
• Elijah Johnson with 22 assists.
• Chance Guillermo a perfect 18 of 18 in receptions.

Regents Watch

• Isaiah Dixon led Rockford with 10 kills and had a .400 hit percentage.
• Josh Albers had 20 assists.
• Joaquin Santillan added 6 kills.

Up Next

The Scarlet Hawks don't play again until Friday, March 10th, when they host Edgewood at 7:00 PM in the Keating Sports Center in a NACC matchup.