Women's Volleyball Falls In Quarterfinal Battle With Concordia Wisconsin

Mequon, Wis. - The Illinois Tech women's volleyball team was in a position to steal the opening set in their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference quarterfinals match with Concordia Wisconsin on Tuesday night, after jumping out to to a 21-13 lead. But the Falcons would storm back, winning 9 of the next 10 points to tie the set at 22, and eventually take the opening set in extra play 32-30 en route to a 3-0 match victory over the Scarlet Hawks. The #2 seeded Falcons advance to the semifinals where they'll take on #3 seed St. Norbert. The Scarlet Hawks finish their season with an overall record of 15-15.

How It Happened

Set One - Concordia Wisconsin 32 - Illinois Tech 30: The teams were even a third of the way through the opening set, tied at 10-10. An 11-3 run by the Scarlet Hawks put them in front by 8 points at 21-13. But a 9-1 counter run by the Falcons tied the set at 22-22. The Hawks would win the next two points to reach set point at 24-22. The Falcons would stave off set point, winning the next 3 points for a 25-24 lead. The teams would trade set-point advantages multiple times over the next several points, reaching a 30-30 tie before the Falcons won the next two points for the set one victory. London Francis paced the Hawks with 6 kills.
Set Two - Concordia Wisconsin 25 - Illinois Tech 19: An early 7-3 lead for the Falcons was erased by the Scarlet Hawks when they used an 8-4 run to tie the second set at 11-11. That would be as close as the Hawks would get for the remainder of the set, with Concordia Wisconsin building a 20-16 lead, and holding off a late rally by Illinois Tech for the set two victory. Francis and Grace Reckamp each had 3 kills for the Scarlet Hawks.
Set Three - Concordia Wisconsin 25 - Illinois Tech 18: The Falcons took a 1-0 lead to start the third set and never trailed. Down 23-13 late in the set, the Scarlet Hawks would use a 5-1 run to pull within 6 points at 24-18, fending off match point 3 separate times along the way. But the fourth time was the charm for the Falcons, with Noelle Smith getting the final point on a kill to win the match 3-0.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

Grace Reckamp with 11 kills, 11 assists, 12 digs and 1 service ace
London Francis with 9 kills and a .400 attack percentage
Sasami Cavan with 16 assists and 8 digs
Anna Elena Sofia Sebastio with 16 digs

Inside The Box Score

Paige Stickney led the Falcons with 11 kills
The opening set featured 15 tie scores and 7 lead changes

Season Recap/2025 Outlook
For the Scarlet Hawks, they finish their 2024 campaign with an overall record of 15-15, while going 7-6 in conference play and earning the #7 seed in the postseason tournament. They've qualified for the conference tournament 3 of the last 4 years, including consecutive appearances the last two seasons.

Although the team will only be losing two seniors, the contributions of captains Grace Reckamp and Sasami Cavan on and off the court will be significant to replace. Reckamp and Cavan were the team's primary setters, finishing their careers with a combined 2,190 assists. Reckamp took on a prominent role as an outside hitter as well during the 2024 season, playing on the front line when Cavan was in the setter role. Reckamp finished the year third on the team in kills with 177.

Still, the Scarlet Hawks should be in a good position to build off of their success in 2024 into next season. The potential returning squad could feature three rising seniors in libero Anna Elena Sofia Sebastio, right side hitter London Francis and outside hitter Anna Jones; three rising juniors in middle hitters Karla Trautmann Mendez, Victoria Aspurez and Lilia Donaldson; and six rising sophomores in Sydney Wilson, Karla Leonte, Erin Nothdorf, Taryn Jones, Madison Gowan and Toshiko Jones.

Team Statistics