CHICAGO—The 2020 NACC opener pitted the Illinois Institute of Technology men's volleyball team at Concordia University Chicago for a Tuesday-night showdown. The Scarlet Hawks struggled to find any type of rhythm in a 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-22) setback to the Cougars.

Illinois Tech falls to 1-11, 0-1 NACC while Concordia Chicago improves to 12-3, 1-1 NACC.

"They outworked us in every aspect of the game and we did nothing to combat that," said Illinois Tech head men's volleyball coach Mark Johnston. "Even when we were playing with leads, we panicked. We are going to have to pick it up if we want to make the conference tournament." 

Things looked promising for the Scarlet Hawks in set three with an 18-16 cushion, but only managed one more kill the remainder of the set in a 25-22 loss to the Cougars.

Andriy Bench paced Illinois Tech with 10 kills on an efficient .200 hitting mark, while Jannik Birkholz fed him with 21 assists. Evan Robeck, Michael Sherwood, Bench and Birkholz each tallied a pair of assisted blocks. The Scarlet Hawks hit .134 in the match compared to Concordia Chicago's .326 mark, led by Luke Vozenilek's game-high 19 kills. Trent Weber tallied 37 assists for the Cougars. 

The Scarlet Hawks will face St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin on Saturday, March 7 at 1:00 p.m.