Aurora, Ill. - After reaching the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Men's Volleyball Tournament for the first time in program history, the No. 6 seeded Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks traveled to take on the No. 2 seeded Aurora University Spartans in a semifinal matchup. Unfortunately for the Hawks (12-15, 7-5) their historic run would come to an end at the hands of the Spartans (18-9, 11-1). The Spartans proved to be too much as they went on to sweep the Hawks 3-0.
How It Happened
Set One - Aurora 25 - Illinois Tech 23
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Coming out strong, the Hawks took an early 7-3 lead over the Spartans to start set one. Getting the points for the Hawks were Jackson Van Engen with a kill, Grant Couper with a kill off a Elijah Johnson assist, two Paul Henderson kills off Johnson assists, a Riley Laite kill off a Couper assist. Two points came from Spartan attacking errors. The Spartans then went on a 7-2 run before the set was tied at 10-10. From there the set went back and forth before the Hawks found themselves ahead with three straight point. Points from a Van Engen kill off a Johnson assist, a Jelani Kimoto kill, and a Kimoto and Henderson block put the Hawks ahead 17-15. After a few points, the set would alst be tied at 19-19. Following the tie, the Hawks and Spartans went point for point before the Spartans closed out the set with three straight points to win set one 25-23.
Set Two - Aurora 25 - Illinois Tech 22
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Once again, the Hawks took the early lead over the Spartans, building up to a 8-4 lead with points coming from a Van Engen kill off a Johnson assist, a Spartan service error, a Couper kill off a Johnson assist, a Spartan attack error, a Henderson service ace, a Kimoto block, a Laite kill off a Sherman assist, and lastly a Henderson kill off a Sherman assist. The Hawks continued to stay ahead while the Spartans fought to close the gap. Eventually, the set would be tied at 19-19 before the Spartans went on a 6-3 run to win set two 25-22.
Set Three - Aurora 25 - Illinois Tech 19
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Set three started off in favor of the Spartans, who took an early 6-3 lead over the Hawks. The Hawks fought their way back though with a 5-2 run to tie the set at 8-8. During the run the Hawks picked up points from a Couper kill off a Johnson assist, a Spartan attacking error, another Couper kill off a Johnson assist, a Laite kill off a Sherman assist, and a Couper service ace. The Hawks briefly jumped ahead before the set went back in favor of the Spartans. In the end, the Spartans took the set 25-19, securing the match victory over the Hawks.
Scarlet Hawk Standouts
Spartans Standouts
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Josh McLellan - 17 kills
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John McCormack - 9 kills, 1 service ace, 3 blocks, 5 digs
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Connor Carroll - 8 kills, 1 service ace, 2 blocks, 2 assists, 9 digs
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Luke Dwyer - 1 service ace, 43 assists
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Mateo Scharosch - 3 blocks
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Nathan Anderson - 1 assist
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Alex Nonhof - 12 digs
Inside the Box Score
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The Spartans led in kills 49-39
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In service aces the Spartans edged the Hawks 3-2
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For total blocks, the Spartans led 6-4
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46 assists were recorded by the Spartans while 37 were recorded by the Hawks
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The Spartans finished with 45 digs versus the Hawks 43
2024 Recap
The Hawks finished their 2024 season with a 12-15 overall record and a 7-5 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference record.
For the season, the Hawks finished with 1081 kills, 10.9 kills per set, 999 assists, 10.1 assists per set, 117 service aces, 1260 digs, 12.7 digs per set, 69 solo blocks, and 200 block assists.
Jackson Van Engen led the team with 232 kills, a .340 attack percentage, 29 block solos, 50 block assists, and .80 blocks per set. Riley Laite led with 2.56 kills per set. Grant Couper led with 675 total attacks. Elijah Johnson led with 634 assists and 7.46 assists per set. Paul Henderson led with 26 service aces and .30 service aces per set.
After making their first ever postseason Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Men's Volleyball Tournament, the Hawks will look to build and return in the future.
Congratulations to the Hawks three seniors for you careers as Scarlet Hawks: Jackson Van Engen, Grant Couper, and David Singer.
The Hawks will return in the winter of 2025.
