Box Score The Wolf Pack will welcome SUNO and Faulkner to The Den tomorrow for a tri-match. Loyola faces Faulkner at noon before taking on the Knights at 4:00 p.m.
Riding a two-match winning streak, the Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team returned home on Friday night to welcome conference-leading (RV) University of Mobile to town for a Southern States Athletic Conference throwdown inside The Den.
Entering Friday's action, the Wolf Pack (11-12, 2-6 SSAC) were coming off of victories over the Mississippi University for Women and Fisk University and looking to keep the squad's record at home unblemished (6-0). Conversely, the powerhouse Rams entered The Den having defeated SUNO 3-0 earlier in the day and riding an impressive 13-match winning streak. During those 13 matches, Mobile had only surrendered one total set while outscoring SSAC opponents 24-0 overall.
Mobile (25-3, 9-0 SSAC) was able to keep that momentum rolling inside The Den on Friday as the team took down Loyola 3-0 to hand the Rams their seventh shutout victory in a row.
The visitors raced out to the 3-0 advantage to start set one before back-to-back attack errors by Hannah Wentland and a kill from Allison Hartmann (JR/Slidell, La.) would knot the opening frame at 3-3. With the score tied at 10-10, Loyola scored two unanswered to go up 12-10 but Mobile answered back with a 5-1 spurt to grab the 15-13 lead late. Up four (22-18), Mobile closed out the opener by scoring the final three-straight points to take the opening frame 25-18.
The second set was a close one as the Rams were unable to build a lead larger than two points in the early moments. Up 13-10, Mobile put together a 4-1 run to push the advantage to 17-11 before a service error by Avery Wasdin halted the spurt to bring the score to 17-12. The visitors would notch the next four out of five scores to go up 21-13 before a kill by Beatriz Agosto (SO/Miami, Fla.) sparked a 3-0 Loyola run to being the home team within five at 21-16. The Rams closed out the second frame by outscoring Loyola 4-2 to claim the second set 25-18 to go up 2-0.
Set three started close until – with Mobile up 13-8 – the Rams orchestrated a 7-1 run to take the commanding 20-8 cushion. Both teams would exchange points for the duration of the set until a kill by Mirella Gatterdman off an assist by Annie Kate Hudson would seal the victory for Mobile in the set (25-12) and the match 3-0.
Adelida Obioha (FR/New Orleans, La.), Tylar Beckham (SO/New Orleans, La.), and Agosto each tallied five kills on Friday while Maddie Huekels (JR/Dyer, Ind.) handed out a team-high 10 assists. Defensively, Beckham led the Wolf Pack with four total blocks and Kaitlynn Watson (SO/South Lake Tahoe, Ca.) notched a team-best five digs in the loss.
Mobile's Alex Karcher paced all players with 13 kills in the win while Annie Kate Hudson recorded a match-high 31 assists to pace the Rams' offense.
Loyola returns to action tomorrow when the team hosts SUNO and Faulkner University for a tri-match. The Wolf Pack will take on the Eagles at noon before squaring off against the Knights at 4:00 p.m. inside The Den.
