Chicago, Ill. - After a tough five-set loss on Tuesday night, the Illinois Tech men's volleyball team was looking to bounce back in another non-conference match on Friday night at the Keating Center. The Scarlet Hawks won the first set to start things off in the right direction, but the visiting Wittenberg Tigers won the next three sets, all in close calls, to take the match 3-1. The Scarlet Hawks dropped to 2-6 overall on the season. The Tigers improved to 4-5 overall.

The Scarlet Hawks received solid individual performances from Grant Couper (15 kills), Riley Laite (13 kills) and Jackson Van Engen (11 kills, 7 blocks).

Wittenberg 3 - Illinois Tech 1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-22, 27-25)

• Set 1: Neither team would gain a significant advantage throughout the opening set, with the Tigers only able to reach two-point leads on five occasions, including a late 20-18 lead. But the Scarlet Hawks would close out the set on a 7-1 run to take a 1-0 match lead.
• Set 2:  The teams were knotted up at 6-6 before Wittenberg started to create some distance, eventually opening up a 19-12 lead. Illinois Tech responded with a 10-4 run to close within one point at 23-22. Wittenberg would take two of the next three points to claim set two.
• Set 3: The Tigers held the Scarlet Hawks at bay throughout most of set three, eventually running out to a few five- point leads, the latest at 21-16. A 6-3 response by the Scarlet Hawks pulled them within two points at 24-22, but a subsequent Wittenberg kill closed out the set, giving the Tigers a 2-1 match lead.
• Set 4: The final set saw 16 tie scores and 8 lead changes, forcing extra points. There were 8 tie scores in the set's final 17 points, including a 25-25 deadlock to force extra play. But Wittenberg won the next two points to take the 3-1 match victory.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Grant Couper led the Hawks with 15 kills, had 3 blocks, and 21 receptions with only one error.
• Riley Laite added 13 kills and 14 receptions.
• Jackson Van Engen with 11 kills, a .348 attack percentage, while also adding 7 blocks and 2 service aces.
• Elijah Johnson with 23 assists and 12 digs.
• Alec Donald with 13 digs.

Tigers Watch

• Michael Yurk led all players with 16 kills while pulling in 19 receptions without error.
• Tom Supan added 13 kills and 20 receptions.
• Andrew Diaz de Padilla led all players with 35 assists.
• Jake Downs with 14 digs.

Inside The Box Score

• Wittenberg had a .248 attack percentage vs .192 for Illinois Tech
• The Scarlet Hawks front-line blocked 14 combined attacks vs 2 for the Tigers.

Up Next 
The Scarlet Hawks are idle until next Saturday, when they travel to Rock Island for a tri-match with Fontbonne University (3:00 PM) and host Augustana College (5:00 PM) in more non-conference action.