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Box Score 3 The Wolf Pack staved off four elimination games, including two on Saturday, to play in the Southern States Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship game
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team entered Saturday needing three wins to raise the Southern States Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship trophy. Loyola started the day with a four-set win over Faulkner, then it beat Mobile in five sets to force the winner-take-all match with the Rams later in the afternoon. In the SSAC Championship game, Mobile claimed the victory with a four-set win.
It was the program's first trip to the SSAC Championship game since joining the conference prior to the 2010 season.
Loyola 3, Faulkner 1 (25-17, 25-22, 17-25, 25-20)
The Wolf Pack used 17 kills, seven coming from Emily Sheperis, to jump out to a 1-0 match lead with a dominating 25-17 first-set win. Jordan Bernard and Jules Mokry each had two kills in the early portion of the game, too, then Sheperis recorded her final three kills to help close out the set.
Bernard and Sheperis kept things going in the 25-22 second-set win. Faulkner took an early 6-1 lead, but consecutive attacks by Bernard helped tie the game 8-8. With the game tied 9-9, Brittany Cooper and Sheperis each tallied two kills to give the Wolf Pack the lead for good, 18-13.
After the Eagles won the third set, Loyola fought from behind in most of the fourth set before pulling away late. Sheperis had five kills in the set, and her fourth helped spark an 11-3 run to give the Wolf Pack the edge.
Loyola 3, Mobile 2 (25-18, 19-25, 22-25, 25-15, 16-14)
The Wolf Pack won the first set set in the second match of the day thanks to another solid finish. Holding a slim 18-17 lead over the Rams, Sheperis, Gracie Bailey and Kailyn O'Neal scored three quick points with attacks, and kills by Casey Aucoin and Cooper helped finish the first-set win on a 7-1 run.
Mobile bounced back with back-to-back wins in the second and third sets, setting up the Loyola comeback. Two kills each by O'Neal and Bernard helped Loyola take a 9-7 lead, then three kills by Cooper pushed the advantage to 13-10. Sheperis made it a 23-14 lead with three late-set attacks, and Cooper helped tie the match 2-2 with her fourth kill of the set.
Loyola faced elimination in the fifth set, falling behind 14-9. The Wolf Pack needed to score five straight points to extend the set, but they got seven straight points to win the match. Mobile committed three errors during that run, and Bailey capped off the comeback win with two straight aces.
Mobile 3, Loyola 2 (19-25, 25-18, 13-25, 20-25)
Loyola fell behind 1-0 in the match after dropping the first set 25-19, but it battled back to win the second set 25-18 behind 15 kills. The Wolf Pack shared attacking duties to start the set, as five different Wolf Pack players recorded a kill before Sheperis became the first with two, which tied the game 10-10. The two teams traded a few points, then O'Neal notched her second kill to put the Pack up for good. A combination of Aucoin, Mokry and Bernard on the attack finished off the set, tying the match 1-1.
After dropping a tough third set, Loyola fought from behind in the fourth set in an attempt to force a fifth game to decide the championship. Trialing 19-12, Bernard and Sheperis earned a couple of points with attacks, then another kill by Bernard and two Mobile attacking errors cut the score to 22-18. The Rams, though, won the next three out of five points to claim the championship.
"The past two days of this tournament have been the toughest two days our team has seen this entire season, and they handled it with grace and grit. We are so incredibly proud of the fight they displayed today. Coming out of the losers bracket and getting to the championship match is one of the biggest uphill battles any team will face. They continued to take each match head-on and just like yesterday, refused to be eliminated.
After splitting with Faulkner during the regular season, our team already had a small chip on their shoulder and were focused on getting this win. Emily and Jordan came up big for us offensively, Helene did her thing defensively, and both Gracie and Kailyn set the ball very well. They were committed to earning that win together and making it to the championship.
Probably with an even bigger chip on our shoulders after losing all previous matches against Mobile, our girls were absolutely dialed in to force the winner-take-all match. The whole match was so back and forth. In that 5th set, Mobile served tough and we dug ourselves into a hole, but Coach Robbie said all day, 'It only takes one server to turn this game around.' And Gracie was that server. Down at 9-14, we did what most would think is impossible. Seven straight points. It was incredible. Emily had another huge game for us and
Brittany Cooper was able to turn it on offensively as well.
Going into our seventh match of the conference tournament, we had to give anything and everything we had left in our bodies to earn that title. Mobile continued to play steady and we did allow the pressure and stress get to us a little bit. With some errors at bad times and balls just not hitting the floor when we thought they would, it got frustrating. We continued to fight, but couldn't close out.
I cannot say how proud I am of this group enough. We had to play five of the six other teams at the tournament and had to play the eventual winners a total of three times in two days. Seven matches in three days at this level is really unheard of. This team has achieved so much, reached so many milestones, and recorded so many more firsts for this program. We are young and growing, we have so much going for us in the coming years, and it is so exciting to think about. While the loss stings, I hope this team is proud of what they did not only this weekend, but this entire year, from August to April."
Pack Facts
This is the first time Loyola has won at least four matches at the SSAC Championship tournament. The team won five games at this year's competition, including four straight elimination matches.
Emily Sheperis set new career bests in both kills (18) and hitting percentage (.567) in the Faulkner match. The freshman's most efficient attacking efforts of the season came in Saturday's two victories, as she landed 17 kills on a .533 percentage in the Mobile win.
Helene Masone led all players in digs in two of Saturday's matches after recording 20 digs in the semifinal and 25 in the final. She's had 10 matches with 20 or more digs this season.
Against Faulkner, Kailyn O'Neal was one kill and one dig away from getting her fourth triple-double this season. She recorded nine kills, nine digs, and 26 assists.
O'Neal and Gracie Bailey reached double figures in assists in every match during the tournament. They each tallied at least 20 assists in both of Saturday's wins.
After two double-doubles on Friday, Brittany Cooper had two more on Saturday after kill-dig double-doubles in both of the Mobile matches. She now has 13 such performances this season.
Cooper was the only Loyola attacker to land double-digit kills in the final five matches of the tournament, all of which were elimination matches.
Tournament Results
Thursday, April 8
Gm 1 | #3 Loyola 3, #6 Middle Georgia 0
Gm 2 | #2 Mobile 3, #7 Brewton-Parker 0
Gm 3 | #4 Faulkner 3, #5 Blue Mountain 1
Gm 4 | Middle Georgia 3, Brewton-Parker 0, Brewton-Parker eliminated
Friday, April 9
Gm 5 | Faulkner 3, #1 William Carey 1
Gm 6 | Mobile 3, Loyola 0
Gm 7 | William Carey 3, Middle Georgia 0, Middle Georgia eliminated
Gm 8 | Loyola 3, Blue Mountain 1, Blue Mountain eliminated
Gm 9 | Mobile 3, Faulkner 2
Gm 10 | Loyola 3, William Carey 2, William Carey eliminated
Saturday, April 10
Gm 11 | C1 | 10 am | Loyola 3, Faulkner 1, Faulkner eliminated
Championship Round | Loyola 3, Mobile 2
Championship | Mobile 3, Loyola 1
You can keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.
