Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Loyola will face off against Alcorn State on Monday at 6:00 p.m. With renovations at The Den still ongoing, this match will take place inside Tulane's Devlin Fieldhouse.
Looking to bounce back from a 3-0 defeat against the host Lady Bleu Devils last night, the Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team returned to The Battlefield on Saturday morning to wrap up play at the 2017 Dillard Volleyball Classic.
Having split yesterday's contest against SUNO and Dillard, the Wolf Pack returned to the court on Saturday with a 1-1 record as they prepared themselves to square off against undefeated Huston-Tillotson to start the day. Despite taking the opening set by four, Loyola would drop the final three sets to the Rams in close fashion, highlighted by a marathon 29-27 third set. Loyola would then quickly bounce back in its second match of the day to easily handle winless Jarvis Christian in straight sets to end the tournament with a 2-2 overall record.
Match One: HTU 3 – Loyola 1
Set one was a tight affair that saw six ties throughout. With the score knotted at 16-16, Loyola used a kill by Tylar Beckham (SO/New Orleans, La.) and four Ram errors to race out to the 20-16 advantage late. Huston-Tillotson managed to stay within striking distance until Maddie Huekels (JR/Dyer, Ind.) found Malea Howie (SO/Greenwood, Ind.) for a kill to seal Loyola's lone victory of the match.
It was all Rams to start set two as HTU jumped out early to a sizeable 16-4 lead. The Wolf Pack were able to answer back with six-straight points to cut the deficit to six (16-10) but Huston-Tillotson showed its resolve by taking the blow and keeping the lead at at-least six for the remainder of the set. HTU Marana Washington connected on a kill from Valencia Barrett to end the set and give the Rams the match-tying 25-18 victory.
The third set proved to be a slugfest as neither side was willing to give its opponent an inch. The Rams forced set point (25-24) after a kill by Breanna Taylor but the Wolf Pack answered back with two-straight points to force its own set point at 26-25. A kill by HTU's Tatyana Tyson knotted the set up at 26-26 before yet another attack error by the Rams (third-straight) put Loyola on top 27-26. A wolf Pack error brought the score to 27 all before a service ace and a kill from HTU's Brenna Taylor gave the Rams the hard-fought 29-27 victory in the set.
Set four was just as close as its counterparts and the scoreboard read 19-18 in favor of the Rams late. Back-to-back Loyola errors brought the score to 21-18 before Huekels found Lindsday Ulfig for a kill to bring Loyola within two at 21-19. Both sides would split the next two points and with the score at 23-20 the Rams sealed the match with a kill and a Loyola error to hand the Texas squad its fourth-straight victory.
Match Two: Loyola 3 – Jarvis Christian 0 (limited stats)
The Wolf Pack logged perhaps its most dominated set of the season to start its match against the Bulldogs by holding the winless team to just six total points in the opening set. Jarvis Christian managed to make the second and third closer but the results were all the same as Loyola bested the Bulldogs 25-22 in both the second and third sets to earn the sweep.
Loyola's defense in the second match of the day was phenomenal – only allowing Jarvis Christian 19 total kills on an abysmal 0.057 hitting percentage to along with 14 total attack errors on 87 attempts.
The Wolf Pack returns to action on Monday, August 28, with a "home" match against Alcorn State. Due to renovations at Loyola's University Sports Complex, Monday's contest with take place at 6:00 p.m. across the street at Tulane's Devlin Fieldhouse.
