Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Loyola Wolf Pack are on the road this weekend finishing the regular season with three away matches
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Loyola Wolf Pack suffered two defeats Friday in Montgomery, Alabama, dropping both matches to Faulkner and Reinhardt to begin their final weekend road trip. The Wolf Pack started the day with a tough five-set loss to Faulkner, then Reinhardt earned a 3-0 win over Loyola to end the day.
Loyola (11-9, 9-4 in the Southern States Athletic Conference) will end its regular season Saturday with a match at Middle Georgia State.
Faulkner 3, Loyola 2 (23-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-19, 15-6)
The Wolf Pack started their first match of the day with a tight 25-23 first-set win to take an early 1-0 match lead. The two teams traded attacks with Jordan Bernard collecting three early kills to tie the game 5-5. Faulkner jumped up 10-6 after that, but kills by Brittany Cooper, Jules Mokry and Kailyn O'Neal tied the game 15-15. Casey Aucoin gave the Wolf Pack a momentary lead, 17-16, but Faulkner went back ahead 20-18 a few points later. Bernard and Mokry put Loyola up 22-21, then Bernard helped finish the set with her sixth kill.
Faulkner jumped up 4-1 in the second set, but Bernard picked up where she left in the first game with back-to-back attacks to tie the game. Cooper and Emily Sheperis helped keep the game close, giving the Pack an 11-10 lead, but Faulkner fought back to tie the game 15-15. After the Eagles and Wolf Pack traded a point, O'Neal and Cooper had back-to-back kills, Bernard served an ace, and O'Neal had another kill to put Loyola up 20-16. Cooper had two more kills from there, and Aucoin added one to give Loyola a 2-0 match lead.
Loyola jumped out to a big lead in the third set, taking an 11-4 advantage behind three kills from Mokry. The Wolf Pack pushed their lead to 16-10 then 18-13 before the Eagles started to come back. Faulkner scored six of the game's next seven points to tie the score at 19-19, then after Loyola took a 23-21 lead, Faulkner scored the final four points to earn its first set win of the match.
The two teams traded the first few points of the fourth set, bringing the score to a 6-6 tie. Faulkner, however, scored four straight to take the lead for good. Faulkner won the fifth set, too, using a 7-0 start to the game to earn the match win.
Reinhardt 3, Loyola 0 (26-24, 25-18, 25-12)
The first set of Loyola's second match of the day featured 14 ties and five lead changes. Mokry started with four kills to help take a 6-4 lead, and Sheperis collected three early kills to tie the game 9-9. Aucoin and Cooper had serving aces in the early going, too, then Bernard served up back-to-back aces to give Loyola an 18-15 advantage. Bernard helped tie the set one more time, 24-24, but Reinhardt finished the set with consecutive points to take a 1-0 match lead.
Like the first game, the second was close throughout as well. Brandi Lopez and Bernard each had a pair of kills, giving the Pack an 8-6 lead, but Reinhardt regained the lead for good moments later. Trailing 20-15, O'Neal served two straight aces, but the Eagles won the final five points.
Reinhardt jumped out to a big lead in the third set to help earn a third-set win.
Pack Facts
Kailyn O'Neal notched her second triple-double of the season in the Faulkner match, recording 11 kills, 35 assists, and 10 digs. The 11 kills are her highest total in a Wolf Pack uniform.
O'Neal also had a team-high 16 assists in the Reinhardt match. She's reached double figures in assists in every match this season.
Helene Masone had 29 digs against Faulkner, her second-highest output of the season. It was her fourth-straight match with at least 22 digs.
Masone now has 1,742 digs for her career, moving her into fifth place on Loyola's all-time digs list.
Four Wolf Pack attackers reached double-digit kills against Faulkner: Brittany Cooper (16), Jordan Bernard (14), Jules Mokry (12), and O'Neal (11).
Gracie Bailey recorded 25 assists against Faulkner, which matches the second-highest total of her career. She reached double digits in both matches, having 11 assists in the Reinhardt match.
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.
