Milwaukee, Wis. - Illinois Tech Women's Volleyball was looking to capitalize on one of their best seasons record-wise in several years by making a run in the post-season conference tournament. Unfortunately host MSOE had other ideas, as the Raiders defeated the Scarlet Hawks 3-0 Tuesday night at the Kern Center. The Hawks' set scores were 20-25, 11-25 and 14-25, and they finished with 29 kills and a .111 hitting percentage.
The Scarlet Hawks finish the season 17-11 overall and 8-4 in conference, their best record since the 2021 season, and their highest NACC Tournament seed in program history at number five. The fourth-seeded Raiders improved to 16-9 overall and advance to play number one seed Aurora Thursday night in a NACC Semifinal match.
How It Happened
After a 4-4 tie, the Scarlet Hawks scored three straight points on a Raiders attack error, a
Lilia Donaldson kill and a
Karla Trautmann Mendez ace to move ahead 7-4. The Scarlet Hawks later led 12-7 after kills by Donaldson and
Payton Smith, but the Raiders used three consecutive aces from Ella Notheisen to get within 12-11. Natalie Martinez followed with three straight aces during another Raiders service run, moving the hosts from a 13-12 deficit to a 15-13 lead. Illinois Tech stayed within 18-17 on a Smith kill and later cut the margin to 23-20 on a block by Smith and
Victoria Aspurez, but the Raiders took the final two points to win the set 25-20.
Smith answered the Raiders' opening point with a kill from
Rowan Midgette to tie the second set at 1-1, but the Raiders scored the next five points, including two Emma Schattschneider kills and a block by Schattschneider and Brenna Fledderman, to move ahead 6-1. Illinois Tech traded points through the middle of the set with kills from Trautmann Mendez,
Sydney Wilson, Donaldson, Midgette, Smith and Aspurez, while the Raiders held a 14-9 lead after an Ella Notheisen ace. The Raiders followed with seven straight points for a 21-9 lead, with Natalie Martinez serving the final six of that run, before Trautmann Mendez and Wilson added late kills and the Raiders closed the set 25-11 on a Schattschneider service ace.
The third set stayed level early, with Illinois Tech getting kills from Trautmann Mendez, Donaldson, Smith and Midgette as the teams played to 5-5. The Raiders moved in front with three straight points to make it 8-5, then stretched the margin to 12-6 behind kills from Emma Schattschneider and a service ace by Ella Notheisen. Illinois Tech cut the deficit to 17-12 after a Raiders service error, back-to-back
Maya Zinkiewicz aces and a Smith kill, but the Raiders answered later with six straight points to reach 24-13. Aspurez put down a kill to extend the set, before Ashley Murphy closed it with a kill for the Raiders' 25-14 win.
Scarlet Hawk Standouts
Rowan Midgette
----------------------
- 19 assists
- 12 digs
- 3 kills on .500 hitting
- 1 solo block
Payton Smith
----------------------
- 9 kills on .200 hitting
- 5 digs
- 1 block assist
- 9.5 points
Lilia Donaldson
----------------------
- 6 kills on .385 hitting
- 1 solo block
- 7.0 points
Maya Zinkiewicz
----------------------
- 2 service aces
- 4 digs
Raiders Top Performers
Emma Schattschneider
----------------------
- 16.0 points
- 14 kills
- 9 digs
- 2 block assists
Natalie Martinez
----------------------
- 5 service aces
- 15 digs
- 1 assist
Ella Notheisen
----------------------
- 13.0 points
- 7 kills
- 5 service aces
- 7 digs
Maddie Abel
----------------------
- 17 assists
- 2 kills
- 2 digs
Katie Moser
----------------------
- 14 assists
- 1 dig
Match Notes
- Illinois Tech dropped to 6-5 lifetime against the Raiders.
- Midgette - Reached 200 digs on the season, finishing with 211 after recording 12 in the match.
