CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa--The No. 10 Lawrence Tech men's volleyball team's historic 2024 campaign came to a close on Wednesday with a 25-17, 25-22, 25-13 defeat at the hands of No. 7 Georgetown-Ky. (25-6) at the NAIA Championship Tournament in the Alliant Energy PowerHouse.
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Championship Program
Redshirt junior
Brendon Down led LTU with 11 kills and freshman
Mario Cid chipped in 10 on a .714 attack percentage. Sophomore
Nathaniel Brownlee contributed 26 assists and four digs, while Cid led the Blue Devils defense with five digs.
Georgetown's Ryan Gunn led all student-athletes with 16 kills (.652) and teammate Krzysztof Kowalski added 14 (.379). Finn Heinemann posted match highs of 38 assists and nine digs.
The Tigers outhit the Blue Devils for the match, .453 to .148, and produced 48 kills to LTU's 32.
In the opening set, the teams were tied at 4-all before Georgetown forged ahead for good by scoring six of the next seven points to take a 10-5 lead. The Tigers used big scoring run to go up 21-12. Georgetown hit for a .394 percentage and held LTU to .139 to take the first set by eight points.
The teams continued to battle in the second set with an 11-11 score. A Tiger kill and LTU attack error gave the designated home team a lead they wouldn't relinquish on the way to a 2-0 advantage in the match.
The Tigers used a .609 attack percentage while holding LTU to just .083 in the third stanza to seal the win.
Blue Devils Notes
+ Official overall record of 15-16 (25-6 on the court; includes 10 forfeits due to ineligible player).
+ Made first-ever NAIA Tournament appearance.
+ LTU played defending national champion Vanguard-Calif. in the opening round of Pool B.
+ Entered the national championship with a 10-match winning streak, a school record.
+ Won its first Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament title as the lowest seed (#5) ever to do so.
+ The program was founded in 2017, producing a 2-21 mark in its inaugural season. In 2023, LTU improved to 17-11.
+ Among the plethora of program benchmarks this spring, LTU produced four All-WHAC performers including three on the first team: sophomore middle blocker
Akram Askoul, Mario Cid and
Down.
+ The No. 10 national seed works to being the highest ranking ever.
+ Lawrence Tech this season is 9-4 (not including forfeits) versus teams receiving votes in the NAIA Top-15.
+ At the NAIAs, LTU suffered back-to-back losses on the court for the first time since March 18/21, 2023, to #13 Indiana Tech, 3-1, and #RV Aquinas, 3-2.
More details to come later....
