Box Score Tylar Beckham (SO/New Orleans, La.) collects a career-high 14 kills in the loss at home.
The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team kicked off conference play on Thursday evening, welcoming SSAC foe William Carey University to First NBC Court for the first-ever matchup between the two programs.
Despite jumping out to an early 2-0 advantage in the match, the Wolf Pack dropped the final three sets to the Crusaders to fall 2-3 (25-17,25-17,22-25,19-25,9-15) in the match, giving William Carey its first conference victory in its inaugural season.
With the loss, Loyola drops to 5-9 overall and 0-1 in conference play, while the Crusaders improve to 3-5 on the year and 1-0 in SSAC play following the win.
Tylar Beckham paced the Wolf Pack offense, leading Loyola with a career-high 14 kills. Allison Hartmann (SO/Slidell, La.) added 13 kills in the loss to bring her team-leading total to 132 on the season. Maddie Huekels (SO/Dyer, In.) dished out 19 assists in the loss – marking the seventh time in eight matches that she has handed out at least 10 helpers. Kaitlynn Watson (FR/South Lake Tahoe, Ca.) and Katie Philippi (SR/Metairie, La.) each scooped up 11 digs on Thursday night, while Malea Howie (FR/Greenwood, Ind.) chipped in six kills and three blocks off the bench.
As a team, the Wolf Pack collected 49 kills on 132 total attacks with 24 errors to end the match with a 0.189 hitting percentage.
Megan Zulli led the Crusaders with a game-high 19 kills and Mikaela Hall dished out 36 assists to lead all players.
Loyola hits the road on Saturday, September 10, to take on the (RV) University of Mobile at noon. The Wolf Pack are 19-6 all time against the Rams and have lost six-straight contests dating back to 2012.
