Box Score After starting SSAC play 3-0, the Wolf Pack suffered their first conference loss of the season Tuesday
NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team suffered their first conference loss of the season Tuesday, dropping a four-set match to Mobile (17-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-20) in The Den. After starting the Southern States Athletic Conference schedule 3-0, Tuesday was Loyola's first SSAC loss, and the Wolf Pack is now 5-5 overall to go along with its 3-1 SSAC mark.
Loyola is back in The Den Thursday when it faces off against Florida College at 6 p.m.
The Wolf Pack used a dominating start to win the first set of the match, 25-17. Kailyn O'Neal had three kills and Emily Sheperis notched two to help Loyola take a 9-1, prompting a quick Mobile timeout. The Rams cut the score to 12-7, but O'Neal and Brittany Cooper each recorded aces, and Jordan Bernard had a kill, to keep Mobile at-bay, 17-10. As a team, Loyola had seven more kills to close out the set, as Cooper earned the 25th point with her second kill of the game.
The second set was much closer than the first, as Mobile evened the match with a 25-21 win. There were 11 ties in the game, but Loyola built a 10-6 lead with Cooper serving. The Wolf Pack pushed the advantage to 13-8 and 15-10 after Sheperis, O'Neal and Jordan Bernard found the floor on attacks, but the Rams battled back to tie the set 16-16. With the set tied again at 19 apiece, Mobile took the lead for good to win its first set of the match.
Mobile took the 6-5 lead in the third set and led for most of the game, which included building a 17-12 advantage, but the Wolf Pack hung around to make it close. Back-to-back kills by Sheperis and O'Neal cut the score to 21-18, then Loyola tied it at 23-all. The Rams, however, scored three of the next four points to take a 2-1 match lead.
Mobile finished off the match with a 25-20 fourth-set win, but the Wolf Pack stayed in the game the entire time. The Rams never had a lead larger than five and Loyola even scored three straight points late in the set to make it a 23-20 game.
"Tonight was a tough one. We always go toe-to-toe with Mobile and knew that it would be a battle going in. We missed out on some slight adjustments on defense and we eased up a bit on our aggressive serves, which left the door open for Mobile to go on a few runs that we struggled to stop. Kailyn O'Neal had an outstanding night, earning herself a triple-double. Gracie Bailey continued to get the ball to our hitters. And Emily Sheperis continues a strong freshmen season and keeps finding the court on her attacks. We'll see Mobile again at their place, and most importantly, we are preparing this group and focusing on being our best for the conference tournament in April. We're seeing so much growth, they put in so much work, and we're excited for things to continue coming together for them."
Pack Facts
Kailyn O'Neal logged 10 kills, 17 assists, and 19 digs, for the first Loyola triple-double since Maddie Huekels had one on Oct. 27, 2018.
Brittany Cooper led all players in kills with 13. She also had 13 digs to record her fourth double-double of the season.
Also getting her fourth double-double of the season, Gracie Bailey had 11 digs to go along with a team-high 24 assists.
No one had a higher hitting percentage than Emily Sheperis (.455) Tuesday. The freshman had 12 kills, and it was her fourth-straight match with 12 or more.
Helene Masone tied with O'Neal with a game-high 19 digs.
Casey Aucoin had a team-high six blocks. She's had three matches of six or more blocks this season.
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