Elgin, IL - This weekend, the Judson Men's Volleyball team co-hosted the 2024 Chicago Tournament. Across three days, the Lindner Center featured six teams from across the country currently ranked in the Pre-season NAIA Men's Volleyball poll. The talent on the court was certainly an impressive display of skill all weekend. 

In the win column, this weekend did not go in favor of the Eagles. But for the long run, the experience will almost certainly pay off for JU. After all, Chess not Checkers.

On Thursday night, they hosted #13 Jamestown. Perhaps with a bit of nerves on opening night, the Eagles fell 25-17, 25-16, 25-13. Elijah Gregg led the way with 11 kills, and Elijah Wrobel had 30 assists. Senior Trevor Kozlowski also added eight kills. 

On Friday night, they hosted #10 William Penn in front of a lively, packed crowd. While each contests provides its own measuring stick for evaluation, this match was one Head Coach Jake Wallin had circled as a true test heading into the season. He certainly had his team ready to battle as well. 

With the nerves a bit more calmed, the Eagles came out firing taking the first game 25-23. The Statesmen of William Penn proceeded to then take games two, three, and four for the victory. But the Eagles competed all night showing signs of what they could be by season's end. The co-captains again led things with Elijah Gregg having 12 kills, and Elijah Wrobel posting 25 assists and two aces. 

On Saturday, the weekend closed with a matchup against #6 Grand View. The final score is certainly not indicative of how back and forth the contest was. The Vikings took the game 27-25, 25-22, 25-21. The Eagles play at the net was superb going toe to toe with Grand View. JU had nine blocks in the match, with Grant Shipley having four of them. In a match like this, the margin of error is very small, and 15 service errors may have been the difference in the Eagles possibly knocking off a highly ranked team. 

But again, for this team, a litmus test of facing three ranked teams in three days will only provide positives going forward. The Eagles certainly did not back down or crack in any of the contests, and they take away many learning experiences to grow from as this season progresses. They are ostrich eggs after all. 

Judson will be back on the Lindner floor Tuesday night when they host Illinois Tech at 7pm.