RIVER FOREST, Ill. — On a night when
Victoria Aspurez achieved the 500 career kills milestone and added to her 100 career service aces milestone, Illinois Tech women's volleyball defeated Dominican 3-0 on Thursday, winning 25-19, 25-10, 25-9. The Scarlet Hawks hit .338 with 12 service aces and held the Stars to a .000 attack percentage.
The Scarlet Hawks are 13-7 overall and 4-2 in NACC play. The Stars are 0-19 overall and 0-6 in NACC play.
Aspurez's 3rd kill in the first set, giving the Hawks a 24-19 lead, gave the senior middle 500 kills in her career. She added another kill later in the match, and added 3 more service aces to reach 105 career aces.
How It Happened
After the Stars scored the first two points, the Scarlet Hawks worked back to a 3-3 tie on a
Rowan Midgette kill and moved ahead 5-3 on consecutive
Victoria Aspurez service aces. The Scarlet Hawks stayed in front, and a stretch from 10-8 to 17-9 included multiple
Karla Trautmann Mendez kills, kills by Aspurez and a Trautmann Mendez ace. The Stars answered with five straight points to narrow the score to 18-14, but the Scarlet Hawks kept separation with late kills from
Payton Smith, Trautmann Mendez,
Lilia Donaldson and Aspurez. Trautmann Mendez finished the set with a kill from Midgette, giving the Scarlet Hawks a 25-19 win.
Olivia McMath's serving helped the Scarlet Hawks build a 5-0 start in the second set, with the Stars committing two attack errors before
Cecilia Veters put down back-to-back kills and McMath added an ace. After the Stars got within 6-3 on Kathryn Ksiezak's kill, the Scarlet Hawks led 8-4 after a Donaldson kill and added four straight points on Trautmann Mendez Mendez's serve, including two aces and a McMath kill, to make it 12-4. The Stars closed to 12-6, but
Sydney Wilson's kill returned serve to the Scarlet Hawks, and Wilson served four straight points — two aces and two Stars attack errors — for a 17-6 lead. The Scarlet Hawks reached 21-8 on consecutive Stars attack errors during McMath's next service turn, then used a
Toshiko Jones ace and two late Trautmann Mendez kills to finish the set 25-10.
After an opening Stars attack error, Smith served the Scarlet Hawks through seven straight points, including an
Erin Nothdorf kill and a Smith ace, to make it 8-0. The Stars got their first point on a Scarlet Hawks attack error, but another error returned the serve, and
Victoria Aspurez's service turn carried the set to 17-1 with three Veters kills, a Nothdorf kill, a Donaldson block and kill, and an Aspurez ace. Jaylynn Miller had kills for the Stars around Veters and
Sydney Wilson kills as the Scarlet Hawks moved to 20-3, before the Stars took four of the next five points to reach 21-7. The Scarlet Hawks used a Stars service error, an Aspurez kill and a Stars attack error to move ahead 24-8, and after Miller's final kill for the Stars, another service error closed the Scarlet Hawks' 25-9 set win.
Scarlet Hawk Standouts
Karla Trautmann Mendez
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- team-high 10 kills on .500 hitting
- 3 service aces
- 12.0 points
- 4 digs
Victoria Aspurez
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- 4 kills on .444 hitting, reaching 501 career kills
- 3 service aces
Rowan Midgette
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- team-high 19 assists
- 4 digs
- 1 kill on 1.000 hitting
Cecilia Veters
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- 7 kills on .667 hitting
- 3 digs
- 7.0 points
Lilia Donaldson
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- 5 kills on .833 hitting
- 1 solo block
- 6.0 points
Stars Top Performers
Jaylynn Miller
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- 5 kills
- 5.0 points
Mawedda Abu-Shukhaidem
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- 6 assists
- 3 digs
Match Notes
- The Scarlet Hawks improve to 6-5 lifetime against the Stars, winning the last 5 consecutive matches.
- Team - Achieved a season-high hitting percentage of .338 in the match.
- Veters - Achieved a season-high hitting percentage of .667.
- Trautmann Mendez - Achieved a season-high hitting percentage of .438.
- Donaldson - Achieved a season-high hitting percentage of .833.
Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks host Milwaukee School of Engineering and Wheaton College in a tri-match at the Keating Center on Saturday, October 17th, at 12pm and 5pm, respectively.
