Top Seeds Win in Men's Volleyball Tournament Semifinals

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - (TOURNAMENT PAGE) - The top two seeds in the 2023 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Men's Volleyball Tournament advance out of their respective semifinals inside inside the Schaefer Center on the camput of Indiana Tech to set up a rematch of season's last regular season match. Top-seeded Indiana Tech defeated No. 5 Lawrence Tech 3-1 in the first semifinal match while second-seeded Lourdes eliminated No. 6 Cornerstone 3-1.

The top two seeds will meet on Saturday, April 1 for the third time in eight days. The first serve is set for 1 p.m. with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships. 

No. 1 Indiana Tech (18-7) def. No. 5 Lawrence Tech (17-11), 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-13, 25-18)
Indiana Tech played to a 12-5 lead in the opening set thanks to multiple kills by Daynte Stewart and Ryan Griffel, but Lawrence Tech scored the next four points to close the gap. The Warriors did not ease up and promptly built the lead back to six at 20-14 before closing out the set 25-17.

The second set seemed to favor Lawrence Tech as the Blue Devils opened with a 7-1 run and pushed their lead to 14-4. Indiana Tech put together a couple of short runs to pull to within one at 16-15 and the teams then traded points until Mason Milan gave IT a one-point lead at 20-19. LTU tied it on a kill by JT McCarthy only to see the Warriors go up by two once again. With the score at 23-21 in favor of IT, the Blue Devils grabbed the next four points for the 25-23 win to tie the match.

The next set was all Indiana Tech as the Warriors built a 12-point lead and finished the set with a 25-13 win.

The fourth set also belong to the Warriors. IT scored the first three points and never looked back, enjoying leads of as many as eight before winning 25-18.
Stat Leaders
Kills: Daynte Steward 15 (IT); Matheus Andrade 12 (LTU)
Assists: Brandon Jones 36 (IT); Simon Phillip 31 (LTU)
Digs: Gustavo Heidrich 12 (LTU); Joey Hermes 9 (IT)
Blocks: Raekwon Rogers 8 (IT); Akram Askoul, JT McCarthy 4 (LTU)

No. 2 Lourdes (19-7) def. No. 6 Cornerstone (19-13), 3-1 (22-25, 29-27, 30-28, 25-20)
Cornerstone hit a blistering .429 in the opening set with 14 kills and just two errors to take the early lead in the match. The set was tied at 20 when the Golden Eagles scored three straight points to take control after leading most of the second half of the stanza.
 
Cornerstone jumped out to a 5-1 lead early in the second and led 14-10 before Lourdes made a run to pull even at 16. The Gray Wolves fought off a pair of set points at 24-23 and 26-25 before converting on its own third set point opportunity to even the match.
 
Set three had 21 ties and seven lead changes, with neither side leading by more than two points the entire frame. Luordes had six set points before finally winning the set to take the lead in the match.
 
LU hit .385 with just two errors in the fourth set while limiting Cornerstone to a .091 clip as the Golden Eagles made 11 miscues.  Leading 10-9, Lourdes went on an 8-1 run to pull away.
Stat Leaders
Kills: David Galanes 23 (CU); Jaber Badarne 20 (LU)
Assists: Patrick Voloch 44 (CU); Joey Bianco 40 (LU)
Digs: Kyi Jagorin 24 (CU); Eduardo Ayala, Gabriel Vianna 11 (LU)
Blocks: Reshawn Allen, Charlie Harr 2 (LU); Hubert Sliwinski, David Galanes 2 (CU)