LISLE, Ill. — Illinois Tech women's volleyball was hoping to move up in the NACC standing Thursday night, starting with their road match at Benedictine while hoping the teams immediately in front of them suffered losses. At the end of the night, the Scarlet Hawks had to settle for keeping pace in the conference standings with their 3-1 win. The Scarlet Hawks finished with 54 kills and a .248 hitting percentage while holding the Eagles to 30 kills and a .038 mark.
Payton Smith led the way for the Scarlet Hawks with a career-high 19 kills.
The Scarlet Hawks are 15-9 overall and 6-3 in NACC play, maintaining their hold on fifth place in the standings but unable to move up due to MSOE and Lakeland victories. The Eagles are 6-21 overall and 2-7 in NACC play.
How It Happened
The Scarlet Hawks started the opening set with
Sydney Wilson's kill from
Brooke Rifkin and a
Payton Smith service ace for a 2-0 lead, but the Eagles used two Lizzy Williams aces and a Samantha Bagdonaite ace to move ahead 5-4.
Lilia Donaldson tied it with a kill from
Rowan Midgette, and the Scarlet Hawks went in front during a stretch that included a Wilson ace and a Midgette kill from Wilson for a 9-6 advantage. The Eagles cut the margin to 13-12 on Olivia Evola's kill, but the Scarlet Hawks answered through kills by
Victoria Aspurez, Wilson, Donaldson and Midgette to stay ahead before a Donaldson kill, a
Karla Trautmann Mendez ace and an Eagles setting error made it 20-15. The Eagles later got within 22-19, but Smith's kill, an Eagles attack error and Aspurez's kill closed a 25-19 set win for the Scarlet Hawks.
The second set stayed tight early, with
Sydney Wilson's kill tying it at 7-7 before the Eagles moved ahead 10-7 and later 17-14. The Scarlet Hawks answered with seven of the next eight points, using a Wilson kill, a Trautmann Mendez ace, a Donaldson kill and three Smith kills in the stretch to go in front 22-18. The Eagles came back to tie the set at 23-23, and after Smith's kill gave the Scarlet Hawks set point at 24-23, the Eagles scored the final three points to take the set 26-24.
The Scarlet Hawks built a 5-1 lead in the third set behind two Aspurez aces and a Donaldson/
Sydney Wilson block before the Eagles worked back within 8-6. The Scarlet Hawks answered with eight straight points to move ahead 16-6, with Smith putting down consecutive kills from Midgette and the stretch continuing through Eagles errors and blocks by Smith/Aspurez and Aspurez/Midgette. After the Eagles got back to 18-10, the Scarlet Hawks pushed the margin to 22-11 on kills by Wilson and Smith, a Wilson kill from
Olivia McMath and another Aspurez ace. The Eagles used consecutive Emma Cuzas aces to get to 22-14, but an attack error, a Wilson ace and a Donaldson/McMath block closed out the Scarlet Hawks' 25-14 set win.
After the Eagles scored the first two points, the Scarlet Hawks pulled even with help from Aspurez blocks and traded points until the set reached 4-4. An Eagles service error put the Scarlet Hawks ahead 5-4, and Wilson served 10 straight points, including three aces, while Donaldson, Trautmann Mendez, Wilson and McMath added kills to make it 15-4. The Eagles got back to 16-7, but the Scarlet Hawks answered with a Donaldson kill and four points on
Brooke Rifkin's serve, including two Smith kills and an Aspurez kill, to move ahead 21-7. Wilson's kill brought up set point at 24-9, and the Scarlet Hawks finished the set 25-10 on an Eagles attack error.
Scarlet Hawk Standouts
Payton Smith
----------------------
- 19 kills, a new career-high, on .410 hitting
- 20.5 points
- 1 service ace
- 1 block assist
Sydney Wilson
----------------------
- 11 kills
- 5 service aces, a new career-high
- 12 digs
- 16.5 points
Victoria Aspurez
----------------------
- 6 kills on .333 hitting
- 4 service aces
- 5 total blocks, including 2 solo
- 13.5 points
Brooke Rifkin
----------------------
- 21 digs
- 6 assists
Rowan Midgette
----------------------
- 24 assists
- 8 digs
- 3 kills on .750 hitting
Eagles Top Performers
Keira Clark
----------------------
- 8 kills
- 4 blocks
- 10.5 points
Lizzy Williams
----------------------
- 17 digs
- 6 kills
- 2 service aces
- 2 blocks
Olivia Evola
----------------------
- 24 assists
- 12 digs
- 1 block
Emma Cuzas
----------------------
- 12 digs
- 7 kills
- 3 service aces
Match Notes
- The Scarlet Hawks improved to 5-6 lifetime against the Eagles, winning the last two matches.
- Team - Recorded at least 71 digs in two consecutive matches this season.
- Team - Registered 12 service aces in the match, exceeding their season average of 7.74.
- Smith - Recorded a season-high of 19 kills.
- Wilson - Registered a career-high total of 5 service aces.
Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks host St. Norbert College on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, at 12 p.m. at Keating Sports Center. As part of Senior Day festivities, the team will honor their class of 2027 teammates prior to the match.
