The Illinois Tech Men’s Volleyball team traveled to Greenville on February 11 to face-off against Lakeland and Greenville College in a doubleheader. The Scarlet Hawks played well all day, but couldn’t come out on top as they lost both matches.
Scores
- Lakeland 3, Illinois Tech 1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-14, 25-16)
- Greenville 3, Illinois Tech 2 (25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 30-32, 15-10)
How It Happened – Lakeland Match
- The Hawks started slow to begin the match, as the Muskies built a 7-2 lead and never looked back, winning the first set 25-17.
- The second set was even as both teams traded points, with the Muskies at one point leading 16-11. The Hawks fought back as they ended the set with five straight points, led by David Allen’s three kills, winning the second set 25-22.
- With the match tied 1-1, Lakeland put its foot on the gas. The Muskies built early leads in both the third and fourth sets, winning the third 25-14 and the fourth by nine points (25-16).
Scarlet Hawks Standouts – Lakeland Match
- Lukasz Kupiec continued his strong play and finished the match with 14 kills and 14 assists. He added five digs and one service ace.
- Allen ended with five digs and eight kills, aided by Andrew Woltman who had 16 assists.
- Derek Bostick ended the match with a team-high 10 digs.
How It Happened- Greenville Match
- The home team built an early lead, but the Hawks stuck with them as they cut the seven point lead down to three (23-20). The Panthers hung tight and won the first set 25-20.
- The Hawks came out ready to bounce back in the second set and won 25-23 lead by Kupiec’s five kills and five assists.
- The match turned into a nail-bitter as both teams were tied 8-8 early in the third set. Evan Robeck had six kills, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Panthers as Greenville won the third set 25-23.
- The fourth set was full of back-and-forth action, as a service error by the Panthers resulted in a tie (25-25). Four straight assists from Kupiec, and good overall team play, led the Hawks to a 32-30 fourth set victory. Kupiec had 10 assists and five kills in the set.
- The Panthers built an early 5-3 lead in the set, but a kill by Robeck helped tie it up at 5. But Greenville was too much to overcome. They ended the set with three straight points, winning the set (15-10) and winning the match 3-2.
Scarlet Hawk Standouts – Greenville Match
- Kupiec tallied another triple-double with 29 assists, 10 digs, and a team-high 21 kills.
- Woltman also made his presence felt tallying a team-high 30 assists to go along with eight digs and one kill.
- Robeck had a large contribution on offense hitting a season-high 18 kills.
- Bostick led the team in digs with 18.
Up Next
- The Scarlet Hawks next match will be at the Keating Sports Center on Friday, February 17, the first of seven straight home matches, against the St. Xavier Cougars. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m. Live audio, video, and stats will be available. The live audio will be powered by Illinois Media School.