CHICAGO — Wabash rallied from a 2-0 deficit to force a fifth set in the second of two matches at the Illinois Institute of Technology Saturday evening. The Little Giants lost the second contest against IIT 3-2 after dropping their opening match 3-0 to the Milwaukee School of Engineering.
Wabash (12-6) lost the MSOE (6-8) 25-22, 25-13, 27-25 in Saturday’s opener. The Little Giants forced 11 ties and four lead changes in the first set, including a 17-16 lead before the Raiders rolled off three consecutive points to claim the final lead in the set. Wabash led by as many as four points in the final set and tied the score at 23-23 on a service error. Bawibawi Thang picked up a service ace on the next serve to put the Little Giants a point away from securing a win in the set. MSOE called a timeout and iced Wabash, earning the next point to tie the score at 24-24.
Wabash won the next point, but the Raiders rallied to post the next three points to earn the 3-0 win over the Little Giants.
Thang recorded a team-best eight kills against MSOE. Matthew Stitle picked up 25 assists. Piotr Wolan led the team with 15 digs on defense.
The Little Giants trailed two sets to none in the second match against the host Scarlet Hawks from the Illinois Institute of Technology (8-9). IIT won the first two sets 25-14 and 25-22 before Wabash claimed a 25-20 win in the third set. The Little Giants faced a deciding fifth set by earning a 25-19 victory in the fourth set. IIT led from start to finish in the fifth, despite Wabash closing to a 13-12 deficit with service. The Little Giants committed a service error to set up match point for the Scarlet Hawks, but IIT returned the favor to bring Wabash to within a point at 14-13. IIT scored the final kill of the match to claim a 15-13 win in the fifth and a 3-2 overall victory.
Thang paced the Wabash attack with 12 kills. Jackson Leeper and Zev Wolverton added 11 kills apiece. Stitle finished with 23 assists. Graham Volk added a career-high 21 assists. Wolan led the team with 27 digs over the five sets.
Wabash takes some time off during the Little Giants’ spring break next week before returning to the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League portion of its schedule with a match at Trine University on Friday.
