River Forest, Ill. - The Illinois Tech women's volleyball team had already clinched a postseason conference tournament berth. They already knew their seeding position was locked in at the seventh seed. But the Scarlet Hawks still had a final regular season match to play when they traveled to River Forest for their conference regular season finale against Concordia Chicago. The Hawks took care of business, sweeping the Cougars 3-0, and in the process, moving over .500 overall at 15-14 and over .500 in conference play at 7-6.
The Scarlet Hawks will face number two seed Concordia Wisconsin in next week's Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Women's Volleyball Tournament quarterfinals match, at Aurora on Tuesday, November 12th at 7:00pm.
Grace Reckamp led the Scarlet Hawks with 10 kills, with
Ana Jones adding 9 kills.
Victoria Aspurez collected 5 blocks and 2 service aces.
How It Happened
- Set One - Illinois Tech 25 - Concordia Chicago 23: The Scarlet Hawks found themselves in a 16-8 deficit midway through the opening set. The Hawks never panicked, however, and responded with a 5-0 run to move within three points at 16-13, forcing the Cougars to call a timeout. After the timeout, the Hawks tacked on three more points to tie the set at 16-16. The Cougars won four of the next five points to move back in front 20-17. The Scarlet Hawks regrouped, countering with an 8-3 run to close out the set to take a 1-0 match lead. Lilia Donaldson paced the Hawks with 5 kills.
- Set Two - Illinois Tech 25 - Concordia Chicago 18: After playing even for the first third of set two at 8-8, the Scarlet Hawks found their stride and started pulling away from the Cougars. A 12-6 run by Illinois Tech opened up a 20-14 lead. The teams would trade points down the stretch, with the Hawks winning the final two points for a 2-0 match lead. Reckamp led Illinois Tech with 4 kills.
- Set Three - Illinois Tech 25 - Concordia Chicago 10: The Scarlet Hawks led from the get-go in set three and never trailed. They started with a 5-2 lead, and expanded it to 12-3 before the Cougars called their first timeout of the set. After the timeout, Concordia Chicago won five of the next seven points to pull within six points at 14-8. But the gap would narrow no further, as the Scarlet Hawks responded with a 9-0 run to blow the set open to a 23-8 lead en route to a 25-10 set three victory, and a 3-0 match sweep.
Scarlet Hawk Standouts
Inside The Box Score
- Rachel Livesay paced Concordia Chicago with 5 kills
- Illinois Tech finished with a team attack percentage of .260; Concordia Chicago was -.031
- Service aces were even at 6 each, while the Scarlet Hawks committed 11 service errors to the Cougars' 3
Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks will travel to Mequon, Wisconsin next Tuesday, November 12th, to face the number 2 seed Concordia Wisconsin Falcons at 7:00pm in the opening round of the NACC Women's Volleyball Tournament.
