Box Score The Wolf Pack volleyball team moved their Southern States Athletic Conference record to a league-best 6-1 Tuesday, defeating William Carey on the road
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Loyola Wolf Pack continued their winning streak Tuesday, improving that mark to five straight games with a four-set win over William Carey (23-25, 25-19, 25-14, 25-22) Tuesday. The match was a battle between two of the three teams tied for first place in the Southern States Athletic Conference standings, and the Wolf Pack moved into sole possession of the top spot with the win.
Loyola is now 11-6 overall this season and 6-1 in league play, holding a .5 game lead over 5-1 Blue Mountain. Both Mobile and William Carey are in second place with 5-2 records.
After falling to the Crusaders in a close first set, Loyola rallied with three consecutive wins to take the match. It started with a solid win in Set 2 before a dominating third set gave the Wolf Pack a 2-1 lead. Then Loyola had to come from behind in the fourth set to claim the match.
The two teams played a close second set to start, but William Carey was able to capture the first three-point lead at 10-7. Simone Tyson delivered a kill and Kailyn O'Neal served an ace to help tie the game, then a kill by Preslie Boswell tied it again, 12-12. From there, Loyola took a multi-point lead thanks to Jordan Bernard and Emily Sheperis' attacks, and kills by Alicia Simmons and Gabriela Martinez pushed the lead to 20-16. Four more Wolf Pack attacks and an attack error by WCU gave Loyola the edge to tie the match, 1-1.
It was all Loyola from the start in the third game, as it used four kills through the team's first seven points to take a 7-3 lead early. A couple of Carey errors and two kills by Tyson extended the lead to 11-4, then Tyson notched an ace to make it 16-7. Tyson and Boswell each had two attacks down the stretch to give Loyola a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set was much closer than the third, however, with William Carey leading for most of the game. The Crusaders built a lead as big as six, 13-7, but the Wolf Pack came storming back to tie the set 22-22. Tyson had three kills to start the run, and a service ace by Simone Moreau cut Carey's lead to 15-13. The Crusaders quickly pushed their lead to 17-13 before consecutive attacks by Boswell narrowed WCU's lead to 21-20. Tied at 22, Bernard hammered an attack, Moreau served another ace, and Sheperis ended the match with a kill to complete the win.
The Wolf Pack will take a break from conference play this weekend, staying in New Orleans to play at Dillard Saturday. First serve is set for 4 p.m.
"What another fantastic team win! They played with such grit and tenacity tonight. Kailyn and Gracie continue to share the load at the setting position and have been dishing balls to our attackers, while also playing some stellar defense. Simone Moreau continued to make her presence known in the backcourt and tallied up a ridiculous amount of digs. Offensively, we felt so strong and that shows with five players, Simone Tyson, Jordan Bernard, Preslie Boswell, Gabriela Martinez, and Emily Sheperis, all attacking at .200 or higher. Alicia Simmons and Emily Sheperis combined plenty of times on the block to make a huge difference for us down a few stretches. It has been so much fun watching this team grow together, be tested, and continue to come out on the bright side of things. They truly will not let anything get them down and I am so proud."
Pack Facts
Simone Tyson registered her fourth-straight double-double, and seventh this season, with a game-high 18 kills and 16 digs.
This is the third match this season in which Tyson has tallied a career-best 18 kills
Preslie Boswell was second on the team with 15 kills. The freshman set a new career-high for the second consecutive match.
This was Gracie Bailey's second match in a row with a double-double, as the junior had 24 assists and 13 digs. It's also her fifth double-double this season.
Simone Moreau matched her season-best in digs with 27.
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