Chicago, Ill. - Coming down the home stretch of the conference season, the Illinois Tech men's volleyball team just had to take care of business in their match against a Wisconsin Lutheran team coming in with a 1-9 conference record.  The Scarlet Hawks were able to do just that, sweeping the Warriors 3-0 Wednesday night at the Keating Center. The Scarlet Hawks improved to 6-5 in NACC play and 10-14 overall. More importantly, the Hawks clinched a berth into the conference postseason tournament, with a chance to move up from the 7th seed to the 6th seed depending on Saturday's outcomes. For the Warriors, they fell to 1-10 in conference, and 4-19 overall.

The Scarlet Hawks rode their veteran front line to victory, with the combination of Riley Laite, Jackson Van Engen and Grant Couper combining for 21 kills and 7 service aces in the match.

Illinois Tech 3 - Wisconsin Lutheran 0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-20)

• Set 1: After falling behind 1-0 on a service error in the opening play of the opening set, the Scarlet Hawks won the next three points to take a 3-1 lead and would never look back. The Hawks used a pair of 6-0 runs to build a comfortable lead, and withstood a late 4-0 run by the Warriors to take the opening set. Couper paced the Hawks with 4 kills.
• Set 2: A brief 3-2 lead by the Warriors was erased when the Scarlet Hawks 14-3 run to take a commanding 16-6 lead. Wisconsin Lutheran would put together a modest 9-8 run to pull within nine points at 24-15, but the Hawks secured set point on the next play. Laite led the Hawks with 4 kills.
• Set 3: Despite jumping out to a 16-8 lead in set three, the Hawks did have to fend off a rejuvenated Warriors squad, who used an 8-3 run to close within three points at 19-16 late in the set. The Warriors continued to battle, but the Hawks eventually closed out the set with a five-point win, securing the match win. Laite added 3 more kills.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Riley Laite led the Hawks with 9 kills while netting 3 service aces.
• Jackson Van Engen with 6 kills, a .500 attack percentage and 3 total kills.
• Grant Couper with 6 kills, 3 service aces and2 block assists.
• Eli Sherman with 22 assists.
• Zachary Baus with 8 digs.

Warriors Watch

• Drew Wempner with 7 kills and 3 digs.
• Grant Wempner with 2 blocks and 3 digs.
• James Biedenbender with 4 kills and 5 digs.

Inside The Box Score

• Illinois Tech finished with a .323 attack percentage; WLC finished at .024.
• Each team had 12 service errors.
• The Scarlet Hawks had 9 attack errors to 20 for Wisconsin Lutheran.

Up Next 
The Scarlet Hawks close out the regular season Saturday with a conference match against Edgewood at 1:00 PM Saturday at the Keating Center. It will also be senior day for the team.