SOUTHFIELD--For the second day in a row at home, the Lawrence Tech men's volleyball team upset a nationally-ranked opponent. On Saturday, the Blue Devils defeated previously unbeaten No. 11 Indiana Tech 25-16, 25-19, 24-26, 25-13 at the Don Ridler Field House. With its fifth consecutive victory, LTU ups its overall record to 6-1 and 2-1 in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference. The visiting Warriors, who are the defending WHAC regular-season and tournament champions, fall to 6-1 on the season and 1-1 in the WHAC.

Freshmen Gustavo Machado and Mario Cid paced the LTU offense with match-leading kills of 13 and 12, respectively. The latter completed a double-double with 12 digs. Freshman setter Nathaniel Brownlee dished 45 assists to lead all playmakers.

Defensively, sophomore Akram Askoul (9 kills) helped lead the Blue Devils with five total blocks and graduate student Gustavo Heidrich added 13 digs--both match bests. Junior JT McCarthy also had five blocks and Brownlee turned away four. Jacob Carrico topped Indiana Tech with 12 digs and Raekwon Rogers had four blocks.

For Indiana Tech, Mario Capo led with nine kills, followed by Daynte Stewart with eight, and Rogers, 6. The Warriors hit just .057.

On Friday, LTU came from two sets down to stun No. 14 Lourdes in a five-set thriller, as the Blue Devils have defeated back-to-back nationally-ranked foes for the first time in program history. Today also marks the first time that LTU has ever beaten Indiana Tech in seven all-time meetings.

The Blue Devils set the tone for the match taking the first set by nine points, hitting .217 while holding the Warriors to minus-.154.

Lawrence Tech went up two sets to none on the strength of a .333 attack percentage. Indiana Tech was at .172.

But the Warriors rallied from an 18-12 deficit in the third set to win 26-24, climbing to within 2-1. A Ben Rosenow kill and LTU attack error broke a 24-all tie.

Lawrence Tech, however, responded with a strong fourth set with leads of 7-2, 12-4, 18-6 and 21-8. The Blue Devils excelled with a .542 hitting efficiency with 14 kills on 24 attempts against just one error to clinch the victory.

The Blue Devils finished the afternoon with decided advantages in kills (51-39), team blocks (12-10), digs (46-37), attack percentage (.274-.057) and points (67-50). 

Lawrence Tech returns to action at home at The Don at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Aquinas (Mich.) in a WHAC match.