Aurora, Ill. - The Illinois Tech men's volleyball team had a tall task on their hands in the opening round of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) tournament on Tuesday night: play a road game at number one seed and 11th-ranked Aurora University. The host Spartans proved to be the prohibitive conference tournament favorite, as they dispatched the Scarlet Hawks in three sets for the 3-0 match victory. The Scarlet Hawks conclude their season in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament, and finish with an overall record of 11-17. 

A promising 3-0 start in the first set by the Scarlet Hawks was erased then the Spartans completed a 6-3 run to tie the set at 6-6. After some back and forth play keeping the set tied at 13-13, the Spartans closed out the opening set outscoring the Hawks 12-4 for the 25-17 victory. Erik Jones and Maximo Dowling paced the Hawks with 3 kills each.

The Hawks would again open an early lead in the second set, starting with a 3-1 advantage. This time, the Spartans recovered quicker, using a 7-0 run to build a 17-9 lead and eventually holding off the Hawks for a 25-18 set two victory, and a 2-0 match lead. Jones and Riley Laite each had 3 kills for Illinois Tech

After Aurora opened up the third set with a 3-1 lead, it was the Scarlet Hawks who battled back, outscoring the Spartans 6-3 to tie the set at 6-6. Aurora would respond with a 5-0 run to take an 11-6 lead that despite Illinois Tech pulling within two points at 14-12, the hosts would never relinquish the lead. Aurora closed out the final set and the match outscoring Illinois Tech 11-7 for the 3-0 match victory. Paul Henderson led the Hawks with 4 kills in the final set.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Paul Henderson paced the Hawks with 7 kills and 2 services aces while adding 8 digs
• Erik Jones had 6 kills and a .455 attack percentage
• Maximo Dowling had 6 kills
• Elijah Johnson with 15 assists and 7 digs
• Alec Donald led the Hawks with 12 digs
• Colten Farrell had 3 block assists

Inside The Box Score

• SJ Nelson paced Aurora with 11 kills while adding 7 digs
• Connor Carroll had 3 service aces for Aurora
• Logan Brouwer had 29 assists for the Spartants
• The match featured 14 tie scores and 5 lead changes
• Aurora finished with a .269 attack percentage; the Scarlet Hawks hit .017

Season Recap
The Scarlet Hawks have four players who will depart via graduation this spring: starting libero Alec Donald, starting outside hitter Riley Laite, reserve setter Eli Sherman and reserve outside hitter Bryan Evans. While the losses are significant, the Scarlet Hawks have built a young core to build from for future seasons.

The Hawks will return rising seniors in starting setter Elijah Johnson, starting middle blocker in Jelani Kimoto, and right-side hitter Paul Henderson. In addition, the sophomore class of right-side hitter Aaron Hanny, middle blocker Colten Farrell and libero Zachary Baus all experience growth in their games this past season, and look to continue their ascension. The exciting aspect to the Scarlet Hawks roster is the level of contributions they received from their freshman class in starting outside hitter Maximo Dowling, outside hitter Raul Matos, and middle blockers Erik Jones and Sebastian Dominguez, along with the continued development of right-side hitter Kyler Russell, setter Matthew Michler, and outside hitter Andrew Franks.

Final Record: 11-17 (6-6 NACC - 8th Place - reached NACC Quarterfinals)

Team Hitting Percentage: .176

Opponents Hitting Percentage: .236

Assists Per Set: 10.19 (Elijah Johnson 6.83)

Service Aces Per Set: 1.39 (Riley Laite 0.47)

Digs Per Set: 12.23 (Alec Donald 2.68)

Blocks Per Set: 1.42 (Colten Farrell 0.83)