Milwaukee, Wis. - Despite a lost lead in the opening set, the Illinois Tech men's volleyball team found themselves tied up 1-1 in their match at MSOE Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee, and within one point at 24-23 in the pivotal third set before the Raiders claimed set point. The hosts would go on to close out the Scarlet Hawks in the fourth set for a 3-1 conference victory. The Scarlet Hawks fell to 2-3 in the NACC, and 6-12 overall. The Raiders improved to 3-2 in conference and 6-6 overall.

MSOE 3 - Illinois Tech 1 (26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 25-18)

• Set 1: Holding a five-point lead midway through the opening set at 17-12, the Scarlet Hawks saw the Raiders come all the way back to take a 20-18 lead. The Hawks would chip away and tie the match at 24-24, but the Raiders closed out the set by winning the next two points. Jackson Van Engen led the Hawks with 5 kills.
• Set 2: Tied at 14-14 in set two, the Scarlet Hawks would gain the upper-hand on the next point, and kept the Raiders at arm's length, eventually using a 10-5 run to lead 24-19, withstanding a 3-0 push by MSOE that cut the Hawks' lead to 24-22 before they secured set point. 6 more kills for Van Engen.
• Set 3: Trailing most of the match by 3-4 points, the Scarlet Hawks mounted a late third set comeback. Trailing 18-14, the Hawks used a 9-6 run to close within one point at 24-23. But an Eric Mueller kill for MSOE clinched set point, and a 2-1 match lead. Grant Couper led the Hawks with 6 kills in the third set.
• Set 4: The Scarlet Hawks were only able to hold three small leads in the fourth set, with the last coming at 7-6. The Raiders mounted a 13-6 run to take command of the fourth set with a 20-12 lead en route to the 25-18 set victory, securing the match win 3-1. Couper and Eli Sherman each had 2 kills for the Scarlet Hawks.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Jackson Van Engen led all players with 16 kills with a .312 attack percentage.
• Grant Couper followed with 15 kills, a .278 attack percentage and fielded 39 receptions without error while adding 12 digs.
• Jelani Kimoto with 6 kills, .357 attack percentage, and 3 blocks.
• Eli Sherman paced the Hawks with 27 assists.

Raiders Watch

• Carter Shavitz led MSOE with 13 kills and fielded 26 serves without error.
• Tommy Clausz with 8 kills, a .500 attack percentage, had 9 digs, and led all players with 6 blocks.
• Seth Thomas with 10 kills and 8 digs.
• Parker Rings with 37 assists.

Inside The Box Score

• Illinois Tech finished with a .154 attack percentage; MSOE finished at .197.
• The Scarlet Hawks finished with 17 service errors; the Raiders had 13 service errors.

Up Next 
The Scarlet Hawks will return to the Keating Center next Saturday, March 16th, when they host the Rockford Regents at 1:00 PM in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) matchup.