Naperville, Ill. - After opening the season with a home loss to #2 ranked NYU last Friday, the Scarlet Hawks hit the road for a match at #16 ranked North Central College Thursday night. After dropping the first set, the Scarlet Hawks won the next two sets and had the Cardinals down 24-20 for match point in set four. But the Cardinals showed their resolve, coming back to win set four in extra play and win the fifth and deciding set for a 3-2 victory over the Hawks. The Scarlet Hawks fall to 0-2 on the season. The Cardinals improved to 2-1.

The pivotal fourth set featured nine tie scores but only one lead change - when the Cardinals battled back from down match point at 24-20 to taking a 25-24 lead. North Central would eventually win set four 27-25, opening the door for their comeback match victory.

The Scarlet Hawks finished with two players in double figures in kills with Paul Henderson leading the way with 11 kills and Maximo Dowling adding 10 kills. The Cardinals had three players in doubles figures in kills: Jeffrey McEachern with 11, and Cooper Lundal and Carson Steinbach with 10 each.

North Central 3 - Illinois Tech 2

• Set 1 - North Central 25 - Illinois Tech 21: The Scarlet Hawks trailed for the majority of the opening set, and found themselves down 20-15 late. But a 6-1 run by Illinois Tech tied the set at 21-21. The Cardinals regrouped, however, winning the next four points for the opening-set victory. Henderson and Elijah Johnson paced the Hawks with three kills each.
• Set 2 - Illinois Tech 25 - North Central 22: Set two remained close early, with the teams tied at 6-6. The Hawks would win the next three points to go up 9-6. North Central would battle back and the match remained within one point or tied for an extended stretch, with the teams tied at 20-20. The Hawks would win the next three points en route to their eventual set two victory. Set two featured 14 ties and 6 lead changes, the most competitive set of the match. Henderson, Dowling and Jelani Kimoto each had three kills for Illinois Tech.
• Set 3 - Illinois Tech 25 - North Central 22: After North Central opened with a 2-0 lead, the Scarlet Hawks would dominate play for a lengthy stretch in set three, topping out with a 12-point lead at 18-6. The nationally-ranked Cardinals would put up a fight, and pulled within two points down at 23-21. But Illinois Tech finished the set winning two of the final three points. Four players had two kills each for the Scarlet Hawks.
• Set 4 - North Central 27 - Illinois Tech 25: The pivotal fourth set featured nine tie scores but only one lead change. The Hawks held five-point leads on four occasions in the first half of the set, topping out at 14-9. North Central would respond, pulling the match even at 18-18. A 6-2 run by Illinois Tech gave the Hawks match point at 24-20. But the Cardinals rattled off five straight points to take a 25-24 lead to push set point. The Hawks would win the next point to tie the set at 25, but North Central won the next two points for the set four comeback victory. The Cardinals finished out set four with a 7-1 run to change the momentum in the match. Freshmen Dowling and Raul Matos each had four kills for the Hawks.
• Set 5 - North Central 15 - Illinois Tech 11: After seizing momentum with their set four comeback victory, the Cardinals never trailed in the fifth set finale, building a six-point lead at 13-7 before holding off a late push by the Hawks for the fifth set and match victory. Henderson and Kimoto each had two kills for Illinois Tech.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Paul Henderson led the Scarlet Hawks with 11 kills while adding 14 digs and 2 blocks
• Maximo Dowling had 10 kills, added 3 assists and was second on the team with 22 receptions
• Elijah Johnson with 32 assists and led all players with 5 service aces and 13 digs
• Alec Donald with 40 receptions and only 1 service error, while adding 15 digs
• Colten Farrell with 6 kills and 6 total blocks

Inside The Box Score

• Jeffrey McEachern led North Central with 11 kills, had 2 assists, 2 service aces, 28 receptions and 2 block assists
• Cooper Lundal had 6 total blacks for the Cardinals to go along with his 10 kills
• The match featured a total of 25 tie scores and 8 lead changes
• Illinois Tech finished with a .123 attack percentage; North Central had a .145 attack percentage
• Time of the match was 2:11

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks are idle until next Tuesday, January 28th, when they host Judson University at 7:00pm at the Keating Center in a non-conference match.