Plymouth, Wis. - The Illinois Tech men's volleyball team, fresh off their exciting five-set home victory over Concordia University Wisconsin on Saturday, had a rare turn-around Sunday game when they traveled to Lakeland for an afternoon conference matchup. The trip was worthwhile, as the Scarlet Hawks defeated the Muskies 3-1, earning back-to-back conference wins over the weekend to improve their record in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play to 2-1, and to 4-8 overall. Lakeland fell to 6-7 overall and start NACC play 0-1.

Colten Farrell led the Scarlet Hawks attack with 11 kills, tying his career-high set the previous weekend against Eastern Mennonite University on February 15th. Riley Laite stayed hot, collecting 10 more kills after establishing a new career-high of 22 kills the day before against CUW. 

The Scarlet Hawks and the Muskies played even through the first 12 points of the opening set, tied at 6-6. The Hawks proceeded to go on a 9-6 run to open up a 15-12 lead. A 3-0 run by Lakeland tied the set at 15-15. The Hawks would rebound, however, responding with a 10-5 run to close out the opening set 25-20 for 1-0 match lead.

In set two, with Illinois Tech held an 18-14 lead, the Muskies would go on a 10-6 run to tie the set at 24-24. Lakeland would win the next two points to win set two 26-24 and even the match at 1-1. Set two featured 11 tie scores and 4 lead changes.

With the teams trading points and tied at 11-11 in set three, the Scarlet Hawks would score 9 of the next 13 points to build a 20-15 lead. The Muskies would chip away, however, and pull within one point at 23-22. A kill by Farrell put the Hawks at set point at 24-22. Lakeland would get the next point back to close back within one point at 24-23. Laite would register a kill on the very next point, giving the Hawks a 25-23 set three victory and open up a 2-1 match lead.

The Scarlet Hawks would take control of set four early. After the teams traded the opening two points to a 1-1 tie, a Bryan Evans kill on the next point gave the Hawks a 2-1 lead they would never relinquish in the set. The Hawks would keep just enough distance from the Muskies, eventually opening up a five-point lead that they maintained to close out set four with the 25-20 win, claiming the match victory 3-1.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Colten Farrell led the Scarlet Hawks with 11 kills, tying his career high set last weekend. Farrell finished with a .733 attack percentage, while adding 3 blocks
• Riley Laite added 10 kills, 3 blocks and 8 digs
• Jelani Kimoto with 6 kills, 4 blocks and 4 digs
• Paul Henderson with 7 kills, 3 service aces and 6 digs
• Elijah Johnson with 23 assists and 9 digs
• Eli Sherman with 20

Inside The Box Score

• Sage Xiong paced Lakeland with 14 kills, a .321 attack percentage while adding 6 digs
• Illinois Tech finished with a .250 attack percentage; Lakeland had a .184 attack percentage
• The Scarlet Hawks held a 6-2 advantage in service aces and an 8-3 advantage in blocks

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks are idle until next Saturday, when they travel to Olivet, Michigan to compete in a tri-match against Calvin University and the host, University of Olivet. The Calvin match will start at 1:00pm, followed by the Olivet match at 3:00pm.