Box Score Loyola (5-3) will next travel to Mississippi on Tuesday to square off against Tougaloo College at 1:00 p.m. before taking on Mississippi College at 6:00 p.m.
Looking to bounce back from a 3-0 sweep by Xavier (La.) last week, the Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team welcomed the University of St. Thomas to campus for a special Sunday showdown.
Sunday's affair marked the first official home match for the Wolf Pack this season as the team's original "home opener" was held across the street at Tulane's Devlin Fieldhouse because of court renovations at Loyola's University Sports Complex. The matchup between the Wolf Pack and the Celts was also special because it was a "Hurricane Harvey Relief" match that was added late last week in an attempt to raise money for the visitors and make up missed contests due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey on St. Thomas's home city of Houston, Texas.
Under some new lights and standing on a brand new floor, the Wolf Pack handled business in its home opener on Sunday, sweeping the Celts 3-0 in The Den to move Loyola to 5-3 on the season.
After trailing 1-0 to start the first set, Loyola managed to grab the lead and hold onto it for the entirety of the opening frame. The Wolf Pack built the advantage to as many as seven at one point before a kill by Tylar Beckham (SO/New Orleans, La.) off an assist by Maddie Huekels (JR/Dyer, Ind.) sealed the 25-21 victory for the home team.
Loyola found itself up four late in set two. Holding the 21-17 cushion, the Wolf Pack used two Celts errors paired with kills by Lindsay Ulfig (SR/Saline, Mich.) and Allison Hartmann (JR/Slidell, La.) to cap off the second set on a 4-0 run to take the frame 25-17 and go up 2-0 in the match.
Set three was the most competitive of the afternoon as both sides struggled to build a lead larger than four points throughout. With the score knotted at 21-21, back-to-back UST errors put the home team up 23-21. After a ball handling error brought the Celts within one, a service error by St. Thomas's Sophie Riguat pushed the Wolf Pack to match point at 24-22. The Celts day would end on the next play thanks to an attack error by Kayden Thomas to hand Loyola the 3-0 sweep at home.
Hartman's eight kills on Sunday led all players while Sunni Blanchard (SO/Pierre Part, La.) added a team high 10 digs and 10 assists in the win. Off the bench, Lindsay Ulfig tallied a season high seven kills and Maddie Huekels chipped in eight kills and eight assists from the setter position.
Raguat led the Celts with seven kills and Hannah Westerlage contributed a match high 15 assists in the loss.
As a team, the Wolf Pack held the statistical advantage in kills (32-30), assists (23-20), digs (42-37) and aces (5-3) while outhitting the Celts 0.163 to 0.068.
The Wolf Pack will hit the road on Tuesday, Sept. 12, to take on both Tougaloo College (1:00 p.m.) Mississippi College (6:00 p.m.).
