River Forest, Ill. – RV Dominican University Men's Volleyball hosted Illinois Tech in a NACC battle on Thursday night.
 
 Results:
 RV Dominican: 1
 Illinois Tech: 3

  How it Happened:
-The Stars started the match quickly and surged out to a 6-2 advantage in the opening frame.
-The Scarlet Hawks battled back, knotting the set at 13-13. Junior Thomas Hirsch then recorded a kill that swung the momentum back in favor of DU.
-Sophomore Kendall Esparza rattled off three-straight aces behind the line to give Dominican an 18-13 lead.
-Dominican was able to fend off a surge by Illinois Tech and took the opener by a score of 25-19. Junior Ty Geschke notched 5 kills in the opening stanza.
-After Illinois Tech claimed a 10-6 advantage to start Set 2, the Stars battled back through a 4-0 run by Geschke.
-The Scarlet Hawks took back control with a 4-0 run of their own, as DU trailed 16-12.
-Kills from Geschke and Sophomore Landon Kassulke were not enough as IIT evened the match up at one set each, taking the second by a score of 25-16.
-Set 3 saw the Scarlet Hawks surge ahead in the opening moments, with Dominican falling behind 7-3.
-As the Stars trailed 12-6, a side out led to a 7-3 run for DU, highlighted by a block and a kill by Hirsch.
-With the third set knotted up at 20-20, the Stars came up short to IIT, dropping the frame by a score of 25-23. Hirsch posted 6 kills and a block in Set 3.
-DU fell behind early in a pivotal fourth set, but clawed its way back to an 8-6 deficit after a big kill by Graduate Student Casey Goss.
-Trailing 13-10, Dominican allowed a 5-1 run to the Scarlet Hawks, with Goss, Hirsch, and Junior Richie Johnson all recording kills afterwards to get the Stars back into the set.
-The Stars could not close the gap in the fourth, dropping the final frame by a score of 25-17 and the match 3-1.

  Shining Stars:
-Junior Ty Geschke posted a team-high 19 kills on .289 hitting alongside 6 digs.
-Junior Thomas Hirsch registered 12 kills on .471 hitting and notched a team high 4 blocks.
-Sophomore Kendall Esparza posted 7 kills, 9 digs, and 3 aces.
-Junior Grant Henderson tallied 9 digs in the defeat.

  Leading the Way:
  Kills: Geschke (19)
  Aces: Esparza (3)
  Blocks: Hirsch (4)
  Assists: Kassulke (39)
  Digs: Henderson and Esparza (9)

  What's Next:
RV Dominican University Men's Volleyball fell to 12-4 (4-2 NACC) on the 2026 season. The Stars will get right back to work for a match at #1 Carthage College on Saturday, March 14^th. The match against the Firebirds is slated to begin at 3:00 p.m.

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