ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Rockford University men's volleyball team fell 3-0 to the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks Wednesday night. The first set belonged to the Scarlet Hawks as they held RU to just 3 kills in the set and won handily, 25-17. However, the second and third sets proved to be tight as Rockford and Illinois Tech battled wire to wire. Unfortunately, in both the second and third sets, the Scarlet Hawks scored two straight points to end each set, allowing them to overcome the tight battles, which led to set scores of 25-22 and 25-23. This ultimately allowed the Scarlet Hawks to win the match in straight sets and extend their winning streak over RU to 5 matches.
- The Scarlet Hawks and Regents traded points to open the first set, with Illinois Tech holding a slight 7-6 lead to begin the match.
- Illinois Tech then went on a big 9-2 run to take a commanding 16-8 lead.
- The Regents battled back, scoring the next three out of four points, but the deficit was ultimately too much to overcome as the Scarlet Hawks eventually took the first set 25-17.
- The second set began with a 10-4 Illinois Tech lead.
- The Regents scored the next three points, capped off by a Danny Karpenko kill to cut the deficit in half at 10-7.
- However, the Scarlet Hawks followed suit with eight straight points to give themselves a big 18-7 lead.
- Rockford clawed all the way back into the set with a massive 15-5 run that made it a 23-22 Scarlet Hawk lead late in the second set. The Regents provided 7 kills during the run, led by Isaiah Dixon with 4 kills.
- Unfortunately, Illinois Tech scored the next two points of the set to give themselves the third set 25-22 and go up 2-0 in the match.
- The Regents opened to a 3-1 lead in set 3 after back-to-back-to-back kills from Isaiah Dixon, Josh Albers and Nathan Simons to open the set.
- The Scarlet Hawks and Regents traded points to an 11-10 score.
- Illinois Tech scored three straight to take a 14-10 lead, but Rockford scored three straight in response, capped off by back-to-back kills by Danny Karpenko and Nathan Simons to make it a slight 14-13 lead for IIT.
- Rockford and Illinois Tech continued to trade small runs until the Scarlet Hawks took a 20-15 lead after scoring four in a row.
- However, the Regents battled with a huge 8-3 run, capped off by a Nathan Simons kill that tied the third set up at 23-23.
- Unfortunately, the Scarlet Hawks again scored the final two points of the set to win the third set and secure themselves the match in straight sets.
