Chicago, Ill. — Illinois Tech women's volleyball honored their senior class Saturday afternoon at the Keating Center, and then proceeded to defeat St. Norbert College, winning 25-20, 25-23, 25-13. The Scarlet Hawks rallied from a 22-17 deficit in the second set to take a 23-22 lead before closing out the set.
The Scarlet Hawks are 16-9 overall and 7-3 in NACC play. They hold onto 5th place in the conference standings, as MSOE defeated Concordia Chicago 3-0 on Saturday to maintain 4th place. The Green Knights fall to 6-19 overall and 5-6 in NACC play and currently hold 8th place.
Prior to the match, Head Coach
Mark Johnston and the team honored their class of 2027 senior teammates:
Olivia McMath,
Brooke Rifkin,
Victoria Aspurez,
Lilia Donaldson and
Karla Trautmann Mendez.
How It Happened
The Green Knights led 5-2 early in the first set before the Scarlet Hawks worked back with kills from
Sydney Wilson,
Karla Trautmann Mendez and
Payton Smith to stay within 8-6. After the Green Knights moved ahead 9-7, Illinois Tech took the next four points, with Smith tying the set at 9-9 before two Green Knights attack errors put the Scarlet Hawks in front 11-9. The Green Knights evened the set at 11-11, but Illinois Tech answered with four straight points, including a Trautmann Mendez kill and consecutive Smith aces, to move ahead 15-11 before later stretching the margin to 18-12 on a
Lilia Donaldson kill and a
Victoria Aspurez ace. The Green Knights cut the deficit to 20-17, but Smith had two late kills, Aspurez added another, and Trautmann Mendez closed the set with a kill for a 25-20 Illinois Tech win.
The Green Knights built a 12-7 lead, but kills by Donaldson and Smith, a Green Knights attack error and an
Olivia McMath ace helped Illinois Tech get back within 13-11. The Green Knights moved ahead 21-14 behind kills by Kayden Lamon, Annabel Stevenson and Anna Kudick and a Keira Ashenfelter ace, before a block by Donaldson and Trautmann Mendez and consecutive Trautmann Mendez aces cut it to 21-17. After the Green Knights reached 22-17,
Payton Smith's kill returned the serve to Illinois Tech, and
Brooke Rifkin served five straight points as Aspurez factored into two blocks before kills by Aspurez and Wilson put Illinois Tech in front 23-22. Ashlynn Vande Voort tied the set at 23-23, but consecutive Brooklyn O'Malley attack errors gave Illinois Tech set point and then the set, 25-23.
The third set was even at 5-5 before Illinois Tech broke away with six straight points, starting with
Lilia Donaldson's kill from
Rowan Midgette. Trautmann Mendez served the next five points, including two aces, while Donaldson and Smith added kills to push Illinois Tech ahead 11-5. After the Green Knights got within 12-7, Illinois Tech answered with kills by Smith and Wilson during a stretch that made it 16-7, then continued to build the lead with blocks involving Trautmann Mendez and Donaldson and an
Annalise Clark ace for 22-10. Trautmann Mendez added a kill for 23-11, and after the Green Knights scored twice, a service error and Smith's kill from Midgette closed the set 25-13.
Scarlet Hawk Standouts
Payton Smith
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- 17.0 points
- 13 kills
- 3 service aces
- 6 digs
Karla Trautmann Mendez
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- 15.0 points
- 9 kills
- 4 service aces
- 9 digs
Lilia Donaldson
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- 7 total blocks
- 7 kills with no errors on 16 attempts
- .438 hitting percentage
- 11.0 points
Sydney Wilson
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- team-high 13 digs
- 4 kills
Olivia McMath
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- 13 assists
- 11 digs
- 1 service ace
Green Knights Top Performers
Maddie Kitowski
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- 23 digs
- 7 assists
Alayna Glidden
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- 9 assists
- 10 digs
Annabel Stevenson
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- 5 kills
- 12 digs
Anna Kudick
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- 6 kills
- 6.0 points
Keira Ashenfelter
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- 2 service aces
- 6 assists
- 8 digs
Match Notes
- Illinois Tech improved to 2-5 lifetime against the Green Knights, winning the last two matches.
- Team - Reached a milestone of 200 total service aces for the season, with 10 in the current match.
- Team - Achieved at least 64 digs in three consecutive matches.
- Team - Maintained a streak of two consecutive matches with at least 10 service aces.
- Team - Recorded nine blocks in the match, surpassing their season average of 5.38.
- Trautmann Mendez - Recorded four service aces, exceeding their season average of 1.38.
- Trautmann Mendez - Achieved four total blocks, surpassing their season average of 1.58.
- Donaldson - Recorded a season-high total of seven blocks.
- Smith - Achieved at least 13 kills in three consecutive matches.
- Smith - Recorded a hitting percentage of at least 0.300 in two consecutive matches.
- Wilson - Reached the 100 digs milestone with a season total of 102.
Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks travel to Rockford, Illinois, to face Rockford University on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. in late season NACC play.
