WHITING, Ind. — Indiana University Northwest volleyball cruised to a 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-15, 25-20) over Calumet (Ind.) on Tuesday night at the Rittenmeyer Center, improving to 13-6 overall and 8-3 in CCAC play. The win moved the RedHawks up to No. 3 in the CCAC standings.
The RedHawks wasted little time finding their rhythm in the first set. Gabi Lilovich caught fire midway through, setting up back-to-back kills for Raniyah Preston before putting one away herself, and a Lilovich service ace pushed the lead into double digits. Amie Schutz kept the pressure on with a string of attack errors forced and a service ace of her own, and IU Northwest cruised to a 25-15 win to open the match.
IU Northwest carried that momentum into the second, trading points with Calumet early before Marissa Guiterrez sparked a run with a kill, an attack error forced and a service ace. Trinitie Lintner and Kaelan Murphy chipped in timely kills down the stretch, and the RedHawks closed out the set 25-15 to take a commanding 2-0 match lead.
Calumet made its best push of the night in the third, trading kills behind Berta Comino Couceiro and Payton Vandommelen to stay within reach. But the RedHawks answered every time — Kaelan Murphy and Schutz strung together kills through the middle of the set, and Guiterrez closed with a flurry of forced errors to help IU Northwest pull away and finish off the sweep, 25-20.
Schutz led the RedHawks with nine kills on .381 hitting for 11.5 points, while Lilovich was nearly unstoppable at the net, hitting .667 with six kills to go with 18 assists for 8.0 points. Preston recorded 10 assists and five kills, and Lintner added three kills and five assisted blocks. Murphy chipped in six kills, and Brooklyn Perry hit .273 with five kills. Eva Everett led the IU Northwest defense with 11 digs.
IU Northwest is right back in action Wednesday, Oct. 14, hosting Viterbo at the Savannah Center, with first serve set for 7 p.m. CDT.
