By Jami Sponaugle 

Chicago, Ill. - In the final game of the 2022-23 season, the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks men's volleyball team welcomed the Marian University Sabres to the Keating Sports Center for a Saturday Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) match-up.

Although it was a tough fight from the opening serve, the Hawks (11-16, 6-6) were only able to pick up one set win as they fell to the Sabres (14-10, 7-5) 3-1. The sets went 25-23, 25-20, 30-32, 25-20 in favor of the visitors. 

Senior Day

Before to the match, the Hawks honored their three seniors: Michal Markevych, Jack Bovone, and Chance Guillermo. Congratulations to these seniors for their careers as Scarlet Hawks. Thank you for your contributions to Illinois Tech noth on and off the court. 

How it Happened 

Marian 3 - Illinois Tech 1

• In general, the entire match was even, with both sides keep all 4 sets close. In the first set, the two sides stayed tied through 12-12 before the Hawks went on a short run to get out ahead. The Sabres closed in and tied the set at 17-17. The Hawks and Sabres would then be tied at 18-18, and 19-19, before the Sabres took the lead for the erest of the set to take set one 25-23. 

• In what started out in favor of the Sabres, turned into multiple ties once again between the two sides. Every time the Sabres would get a point to go ahead, the Hawks would answer immediately to tie the set, Set two's last tie came at 15-15 before the Sabres ended up on top for the rest of the points. At the end of the second set, the Sabres won 25-20.

• Set three would be considered the most exciting for how long the set went for. After trailing the Hawks were bale to fight their way back to tie the set at 21-21. From there, every time on side would pick up a point, the other team would immediately answer with one of their own. This lasted until a 30-30 tie before the Hawks were able to get back-to-back points to secure the set. The Hawks won set three 32-30 to force another set. 

• The Sabres controlled most of the fourth set, although the Hawks fought to keep the set close. After a 5-5 tie, the Sabres ended up ahead and never looked back. The Hawks attempted to stay within reach, but were unable to make up enough ground to push for a fifth set as they fell 25-20 in the fourth set and ultimately losing the match. 

Scarlet Hawks Standouts

• Jackson Van Engen finished with 13 kills, 23 total attacks, a .478 kill percentage, 1 service ace, 1 block solo, and 2 block assists.

• Grant Couper tallied 12 kills, 26 total attacks, a .308 kill percentage, and 7 digs. 

Sabres Standouts

• Derek Wills led in kills, recording 21, as well as 46 total attacks, a .348 kill percentage, 1 service ace, and 7 digs. 

• Isaac Dreifuerst ended with 13 kills, 36 total attacks, and 2 block solos. 

• Cam Muller had 12 kills, 30 total attacks, 2 service aces, 6 digs, and 1 block solo. 

Head Coach Mike Oswald's Comments

"I think we went out and played almost the best we could have as a whole team. We worked on a couple of funky wrinkles this week that paid off to give us some good opportunities. Our team felt the pressure. Pressure was a great teacher. We thankfully earned the pressure. We're grateful for our seniors who we celebrated. I feel the season was a success and we've got a lot to be proud of and hopeful for in the future!"

2022-23 Recap

With the loss, the Hawks concluded the 2022-23 season with a 11-16 overall record and a 6-6 conference record. 

In head coach Mike Oswald's first season, the Hawks finished with a total of 984 kills, 10.81 kills per set, 2664 total attacks, 893 assists, 9.81 assists per set, 124 service aces, 913 digs, 10.03 digs per set, 158 total blocks, and 1.74 blocks per set.

Jackson Van Engen led the Hawks in kills with 197, block solos with 26, block assists with 47, block totals with 73, and blocks per set with 0.80. Riley Laite led the Hawks in kills per set with 2.41, and total attacks with 532. Elijah Johnson led in assists with 481, and assists per set with 8.51. Grant Couper led in service aces with 18. Alec Donald led the Hawks in receptions with 478. Lastly, Paul Henderson led in digs with 143 and digs per set with 1.72. 

Michal Markevych closed out his career with 55 matches, 145 sets, 325 kills, 2.24 kills per set, 932 total attacks, 36 service aces, 159 digs, 1.10 digs per set, 13 block solos, 38 block assists, and 51 total blocks.

Jack Bovone finished his career with 63 matches, 184 sets, 48 assists, 634 receptions, 282 digs, and 1.53 digs per set. 

Chance Guillermo wrapped up his career with 50 matches, 133 sets, 75 kills, 233 total attacks, 46 assists, 13 service aces, 341 receptions, 148 digs, 1.11 digs per set, and 10 block assists for 10 total blocks. 

Congratulations to Michal, Jack, and Chance for their careers as Scarlet Hawks and their contributions to Illinois Tech both on and off the court. 

The Scarlet Hawks men's volleyball team will return back to action in the winter of 2023.