Box Score Loyola continues play at the 2016 SSAC Championship tomorrow with matches against Bethel (12:30 p.m.) and Dalton State (3:00 p.m.).
Entering as the seventh seed, the Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team began pool play today at the 2016 Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Volleyball Championships with a matchup against two-time defending tournament champion No. 3-seeded College of Coastal Georgia.
Despite a near triple-double by Maddie Huekels (SO/Dyer, Ind.), the Wolf Pack was unable to combat four Mariners with double-digit kills to fall 1-3 on Thursday morning.
Coastal Georgia jumped out to an early 6-2 advantage to start the opening frame. Loyola responded with kills by Huekels and Tylar Beckham (FR/New Orleans, La.), paired with Mariners' errors, to cut into the deficit to 7-6. Coastal Georgia answered back with 4-1 spurt to extend the advantage to 11-7 in Montgomery. The Mariners were able to extend the lead to as much as eight as the set progressed, but Loyola would battle back to bring the set within four 24-20. Following a long rally, Coastal Georgia connected on a kill to claim the opening set 25-20 to go up 1-0.
After falling behind 0-1 to start the second set, Loyola put together a 6-1 run – thanks in large part to two kills from Katie Philippi (SR/Metairie, La.) – to grab the 6-2 lead in the set two. Up 23-17, the Wolf Pack looked primed to cruise to an easy victory, before a 6-1 spurt by the Mariners brought the score to 24-23. An error by Coastal Georgia's Kayla Gadberry ended the set to hand Loyola the 25-23 victory in the second frame.
Loyola kept the deficit to within three points in the early parts of the third set, but the Mariners managed to push the advantage to six as the set moved on and that is where it would stay – giving Coastal Georgia the 25-19 win and 2-1 lead.
A kill by Layne Estes (FR/Metairie, La.) gave the Wolf Pack the 1-0 lead to start the fourth set. This proved to be the final advantage Loyola would hold for the rest of the match, as Coastal Georgia pushed on with the lead for the remainder of the set to take the 25-14 set victory and the 3-1 win in the match.
In the loss, the Wolf Pack chalked up a 0.098 (50-35-153) hitting percentage with 42 assists, 56 digs and 8.5 blocks.
Huekels had a huge game for Loyola on Thursday afternoon – tallying a season-high 31 assists to go along with 12 digs and nine kills. Allison Hartmann (SO/Slidell, La.) led Loyola with 11 kills and five blocks, while Anna Katherine Brunini (SO/Madison, Miss.) chipped in a career-high 19 digs in the loss.
Kyra White led four Mariners in double-figures with 17 kills and Cayley Meiners handed out a match-high 51 helpers on Thursday evening.
Loyola returns to Cramton Bowl Multiplex tomorrow, Nov. 11, to take on No. 2-seeded Bethel University at 12:30 p.m. before squaring off against No. 6-seeded Dalton State at 3:00 p.m.
