The Aurora University men's volleyball team split a tri-match against Illinois Institute of Technology and University of California Santa Cruz on Saturday at Illinois Tech.

THE BASICS
MATCH ONE SCORE: Aurora University 3, Illinois Tech 2 (22-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-16, 15-6)
MATCH TWO SCORE: UC-Santa Cruz 3, Aurora University 1 (23-25, 25-27, 25-23, 24-26)
LOCATION: Chicago, Illinois 
RECORDS: Aurora University 10-3

MATCH ONE vs. Illinois Tech
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Spartans started out very slow in the match and trailed 2-0, falling 25-22 and 25-20 in the first two sets.
- AU awoke in the third, never trailing on the way to a 25-21 set win.
- The fourth continued to trend upwards for AU as they closed out the set on a 17-8 run, winning 25-16 and forcing a winner take all fifth set.
- The Spartans played very well in the fifth, hitting .667 and winning 15-6.  

MATCH ONE SPARTAN TEAM LEADERS
Kills: Thomas Kovanic (20)
Assists: James Karwin (35)
Blocks: Emmanuel Chaidez (7)
Digs: Brandon Langys (9)

MATCH TWO vs. UC-Santa Cruz
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Spartans played the Banana slugs to four tightly played sets with the second and fourth going extra points.
- Emmanuel Chaidez had a strong opening three sets from the outside, not having a hitting error in his first 26 attempts while collecting 13 kills.
- AU trailed by seven midway through the first set but stormed back to see the set tied 23-23 before falling 25-23.
- The second set again saw AU trailing, this time by five, midway through before storing back and having the set tied late multiple times including at 25 all before falling 27-25.
- The third set was a carbon copy of the first two but this time AU broke through and was able to win 25-23 and extend the match.
- In the fourth, AU had an early and mid set lead. The Spartans then led at set point 24-23 but the Banana slugs scored the last three points.
- AU fell 26-24 and in the match 3-1.

MATCH TWO SPARTAN TEAM LEADERS
Kills: Emmanuel Chaidez (16), Thomas Kovanic (12) and Austin Bayner (11)
Assists: James Karwin (42)
Blocks: John McCormack (3)
Digs: Josh McKinstry and James Karwin (10)
Aces: Thomas Kovanic (2)

UP NEXT
Next action for the Spartan men's volleyball team comes on Tuesday, March 3 when they travel to Dominican University. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. in River Forest, Illinois.