The Loyola University New Orleans Volleyball team continued play at the 2015 SSAC Volleyball Championships on Friday evening, taking on eighth-seed Brenau in pool play. Powered by a double-double from Sr. OH Eva Allen (Oakland, Calif./Head-Royce), the Wolf Pack downed the Golden Tigers 3-1 (25-15,25-22,20-25,25-20) to earn their first victory of the tournament.
Loyola improves to 17-21 overall with the victory, while Brenau drops to 12-21 on the year following the loss.
The Wolf Pack used a block by Fr. MB Jordan Davis (Litchfield Park, Ariz./Millennium) paired with Brenau errors to take the early 4-1 lead in set one. The Golden Tigers battled back to cut the deficit to 17-15, before Loyola orchestrated an impressive 8-0 run to close out the set and earn the 25-15 victory.
Brenau jumped out to the early 3-1 lead in set two, before two errors and a kill by Fr. S Maddie Huekels (Dyer, Ind./Marian Catholic) knotted the set at 3-3. The score tied eight more times and with the set score at 21-21, the Wolf Pack scored two-straight points to take the 23-21 advantage. With the score 24-22, Allen connected on a kill off an assist from Sr. LBreanna Stevenson (Desoto, Texas/Desoto) to give Loyola the 25-22 win.
Down 0-2 in the match, Brenau jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the third set. Kills by Jr. OH Wren Overesch (Austin, Texas/Austin) and Fr. MB Allison Hartmann (Slidell, La./Pope John Paul II) brought the Wolf Pack within one at 6-5. Up 13-8, the Golden Tigers strung together a 4-1 run to grab the 17-9 advantage. Brenau maintained the lead for the remainder of the set to claim the 25-20 victory to bring the match score to 2-1.
The Golden Tigers raced to a 3-0 lead in the fourth set, before an error and a kill by Allen brought the Wolf Pack within one at 3-2. With the score knotted up at 16-16, kills from Davis and Overesch coupled with an ace from Jr. L Katie Philippi (Metairie, La./Haynes) put Loyola up 20-16. With the score 24-20, Allen sent home the game-winner off an assist by Huekels to give the Wolf Pack the 25-20 win in the set and the 3-1 victory for the match.
Allen notched a double-double in the victory, collecting 13 kills to go along with 11 digs. Huekels dished out a team-high 33 assists, while Davischipped in eight kills on Friday.
With Loyola, Brenau and Faulkner each having one loss, the fate of the No. 2 seed came down to the nightcap between No. 21 Coastal Georgia and Faulkner. If the Eagles won they advanced to the semifinals but if they lost it would force a tiebreaker between Loyola, Brenau and Faulkner with the winner moving on. Coastal Georgia swept Faulkner 3-0 in the final match to force a tiebreaker matchup between the Eagles and Loyola with the winner facing Brenau for the right to go to the semifinals. The Wolf Pack played their hearts out but fell to the Eagles 26-24 to end their run at the SSAC Championships. Loyola ends 2015 with a 17-21 overall record.
