by Eric Willuweit

Terre Haute, Ind. – The Illinois Tech women's volleyball team finished their play in the Rose-Hulman Invitational by splitting their two Saturday matches. The suffered a tough five-set loss to host Rose-Hulman in their morning match, but rebounded with a 3-0 sweep of Manchester in their finale. For the weekend, the Scarlet Hawks went 2-1. They improved their record to 9-4 overall.

How It Happened

Rose-Hulman 3 – Illinois Tech 2

• Rose-Hulman opened set one with a 5-0 run. The Scarlet Hawks battled back to take a 10-9 lead that they would never relinquish en route to their 25-20 set one victory.
• In set two, Rose-Hulman jumped out to an 8-2 lead. The Hawks could never square up, getting as close as two points before the Fightin' Engineers pulled away for a 25-17 set two victory.
• The Scarlet Hawks held an early set three lead at 5-2, but the Engineers rattled off eleven of the next twelve points to take command of the set, winning set three 25-15.
• Set four saw several swings in momentum, with the set tied late at 19-19. The Scarlet Hawks secured six of the last seven points to take set four 25-20, forcing a fifth and final set.
• The Hawks opened the final set with a 3-0 run, and had a 5-3 lead until Rose-Hulman completed a 5-0 run to take the lead. The Hawks closed within one point at 8-7, but another 5-0 run by the Engineers put distance between them and the Scarlet Hawks, with Rose-Hulman winning set five 15-11, and the match 3-2

Illinois Tech 3 – Manchester 0

• The first half of set one proved to be a tightly-contested affair, with Manchester closing within two points at 11-9. A 4-0 run by the Scarlet Hawks gave them some breathing room, and the Spartans would get no closer than three points the rest of the way, as the Hawks won set one 25-18.
• A dominant start by the Scarlet Hawks in set two gave them an eight-point lead at 10-2. The Hawks closed out with a 13-point advantage in their 25-12 set two victory.
• Set three took a similar path as set two, with the Hawks building a large, early lead. The Hawks eventually built a 14-point lead before closing out the match with a 25-12 set three win.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts (Day Two – Rose-Hulman Invitational)

• Briar Moore finished the day with 23 kills over the two matches. She maintained a .970 receiving percentage on 33 total attacks, including 16 digs.
• Maria Fernanda Alcantara placed second in team kills with 15.
• Emily Graham had 13 kills, along with 4 service aces.
• Kelsey Starnes had 6 service aces, to go along with a .958 receiving percentage, with 22 digs.
• Allison Wilkins paced the Hawks with 41 assists, while adding 3 service aces.
• Grace Reckamp led the Hawks with 23 digs, while adding 30 assists.
• Stephanie Nguyen had 22 digs and a 4.40 digs per set average.

Up Next

The Scarlet Hawks return to NACC play on Friday, September 30^th when they travel to Milwaukee to face MSOE at 7pm CT.