Tigers retire #15 ahead of loss to LTU

Men's Volleyball honored and celebrated the late Krzysztof Kowalski on Monday night by formally retiring his #15. The Tigers then had to turn their focus to undefeated and 3rd-ranked Lawrence Tech. The Tigers fought hard, but the Blue Devils proved superior on this night as they took care of Georgetown in straight sets.

The teams split the first 16 points of the opening set. LTU then made its move with 4 straight points, including 2 blocks of Georgetown attacks. Georgetown called a timeout to regroup and got the 1st point out of it back, but the Blue Devils kept coming and scored 4 more to surge to a 16-9 lead. Georgetown's best threat came while down 19-12. 2 kills from Kristjan Unt, along with a kill and block from Robin Puss, brought the Tigers back within 3. Lawrence Tech answered right back with a 6-1 run to close out the set, 25-17. The Blue Devils committed just a single attack error and hit .611 to run away with the opener. Conversely, Georgetown committed 8 attack errors and hit just .133.

Georgetown got out to a 5-3 lead in set 2 before LTU rolled off 4 straight. The Tigers battled back to tie the set at 9, but 3 straight from the Blue Devils forced Georgetown into a timeout, trailing 12-9. A Blue Devil serve error was followed by back-to-back kills from Kristjan Unt. Adam Szewinski punctuated a 4-0 run with a big solo block to give the Tigers a 13-12 edge. Lawrence Tech responded to take an 18-16 lead. Georgetown countered with 4 in a row, 3 via kills thanks to Robin Puss, Miguel Ariza Vega, and Finn Heinemann for a 20-18 lead. Georgetown kept the lead all the way to a set point at 24-21. Lawrence Tech would not go away and scored the next 3. Each team had set points in the extra time, but ultimately, the Blue Devils were able to come away with a 28-26 win to go up 2-0 in the match.

In the 3rd, Georgetown again had an early edge at 4-3. Lawrence Tech again came with a mini-run of 3 straight to take a lead it would never give up. The Tigers got back within 1 at 6-5 & 7-6, but could not draw level or go ahead. Leading 15-12, the Blue Devils proceeded to score 7 of the next 9 for a 22-14 lead. They would go on to close out Georgetown, 25-17, to complete the sweep.

Georgetown's offense struggled throughout the day. The Tigers had more kills than the Blue Devils (38-34), but also had more attack errors (25-11) and serve errors (13-7). Kristjan Unt was the only Tiger with double-digit kills, finishing with 11. Finn Heinemann dished out 32 assists in the loss.

The Tigers have a quick turnaround as they are back in RSC play on Tuesday night with a trip to Cumberland. First serve is set for 8:00pm ET.