Springfield, Ohio - Coming off their five-set, first victory of the season Friday night at the 2025 Springfield Showcase, the Illinois Tech men's volleyball team decided they wanted to extend their stay in Ohio by playing two more five-set matches on Saturday in their final day of Showcase competition. The Scarlet Hawks were 3-2 winners in their opening Saturday match against Eastern Mennonite University before falling to host Wittenberg 3-2 in the nightcap. The Scarlet Hawks finished 2-1 for the showcase, while moving to 2-8 overall on the season.

Aaron Hanny and Riley Laite each had 21 kills on the day for the Hawks. Eli Sherman had an all-around performance with 9 kills, 42 assists and 7 blocks.

Match 1 - Illinois Tech 3 - Eastern Mennonite 2

• Set 1 - Illinois Tech 25 - EMU 20: Trailing 12-8 midway through the opening set, the Scarlet Hawks used an 8-4 run to tie the set at 16-16. The Hawks closed out the set with a 9-4 run to take set one. Hanny led the Hawks with 5 kills.
• Set 2 - Illinois Tech 33 - EMU 31: Holding a 24-21 lead late and serving set point, the Scarlet Hawks saw the Royals take the next four points to push the Hawks to set point at 25-24. The Royals would continue to hold set point on six more occasions, with the last being at 31-30. But each time, the Hawks would come back to tie the set, culminating in a 31-31 tie. The Hawks would close out the set by winning the next two points. The set featured 12 ties scores and 5 lead changes. Raul Matos and Laite both tallied 6 kills to lead the Hawks.
• Set 3 - EMU 25 - Illinois Tech 23: Set three also proved to be a compelling battle, with 12 ties scores and 4 lead changes being recorded. With the Hawks holding a narrow one-point lead at 22-21 late in the set, the Royals would claim 4 of the next 5 points to get on the board and cut their match deficit to 2-1. Laite added 4 more kills for Illinois Tech.
• Set 4 - EMU 25 - Illinois Tech 22: Trailing 12-8 midway through set four, the Hawks used a 4-0 mini-run to tie the set at 12-12. The teams would trade points for the next 12 serves, remaining tied at 18-18. The Royals outscored the Hawks 7-4 down the stretch to tie the match at 2-2. Sebastian Dominguez led Illinois Tech with 4 kills.
• Set 5 - Illinois Tech 15 - EMU 12: Trailing 5-3 in the final set, the Hawks would take the next five points for an 8-5 lead at the turn. EMU would force a tie at 10-10 before Illinois closed out the match with a 5-2 run. 6 more kills for Laite.

Match 2 - Wittenberg 3 - Illinois Tech 2

• Set 1 - Wittenberg 25 - Illinois Tech 17: An early 2-0 lead for the Hawks was quickly erased by the Tigers, who took over the opening set after a 3-3 tie and never looked back en route to their eight-point set victory. Three players tallied 2 kills each for the Hawks.
• Set 2 - Wittenberg 25 - Illinois Tech 21: The Scarlet Hawks would hold the lead for the majority of the second set before the Tigers regrouped from a 15-13 deficit to force a tie at 17-17. EMU would then double up the Hawks 8-4 down the stretch to open up a 2-0 lead in the match. Four players for the Hawks tied with 2 kills each.
• Set 3 - Illinois Tech 25 - Wittenberg 21: Set three saw seven tie scores and three lead changes, the last when the Hawks broke a 20-20 tie for a 21-20 lead, closing out the set with a 4-1 run to close their gap in the match at 2-1. Bryan Evans led the Hawks with 6 kills.
• Set 4 - Illinois Tech 25 - Wittenberg 22: With the Scarlet Hawks trailing by five points at 14-9 midway through set four, the Hawks would chip away at the Tigers lead, using an 8-3 run to move into a 17-17 tie. The teams would trade the next four points before a 6-3 run by Illinois Tech tied the match at two sets each. Hanny and Evans each had 4 kills for the Hawks.
• Set 5 - Wittenberg 15 - Illinois Tech 10: The fifth and final set saw six tie scores and two lead changes. Tied at 7-7, the Tigers won the next point at the turn for an 8-7 lead. EMU never looked back, taking seven of the next ten points for the match victory. Evans with 3 more kills for the Hawks.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts (combined matches)

• Riley Laite with 21 kills and 27 receptions without error and 10 digs
• Aaron Hanny with 21 kills and 4 service aces
• Eli Sherman with 9 kills, 42 assists and 7 blocks
• Elijah Johnson with 49 assists, 5 service aces and 18 digs
• Sebastian Dominguez with 8 kills and 6 blocks
• Bryan Evans with 15 kills, a .300 attack percentage, 3 service aces and 2 blocks
• Raul Matos with 11 kills and 4 blocks

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks are idle until Saturday, February 22nd when the resume conference play with a matchup against Concordia Wisconsin at 1:00pm at the Keating Center.