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Box Score 3 The Loyola Wolf Pack played three matches Friday in Montgomery, Alabama, surviving with two wins in elimination matches at the Southern States Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team is one win away from playing for a conference championship after going 2-1 in three matches Friday. The Wolf Pack started the day with a straight-sets loss to Mobile, before claiming two win-or-go-home matches against Blue Mountain, 3-1, and William Carey, 3-2.
With three teams left in the tournament, Loyola will play Faulkner at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the semifinals, and the winner of that match will have to beat Mobile twice. The Rams are 3-0 in the double-elimination tournament.
Mobile 3, Loyola 0 (17-25, 23-25, 23-25)
The Wolf Pack started the day with a tough three-set loss to the Rams, losing two close games that could have gone either way. Trailing 21-17 in the second set, Brittany Cooper tallied back-to-back kills, then Kailyn O'Neal made it three straight kills for the Wolf Pack to cut the deficit to 21-20. A Mobile attack error tied the set, but the Rams scored four of the game's next six points to take a 2-0 match lead.
Again, the Wolf Pack trailed 21-17 in the third set, but they fought back to tie it 23-23 eight points later. Four errors by Mobile, a kill by Emily Sheperis and an ace by Gracie Bailey gave Loyola a chance, but Mobile finished the match with back-to-back points.
Loyola 3, Blue Mountain 1 (25-14, 25-21, 20-25, 25-14)
Loyola dominated two of the four sets in its second match of the day, giving the Wolf Pack the edge. They used 11 kills and two aces in the first set to take a 1-0 match lead after a 25-14 Set 1 win. Casey Aucoin, Jordan Bernard and Sheperis got things started on the attack, then O'Neal added a kill before Jules Mokry had three straight attacks to help Loyola build a 16-11 advantage. Sheperis found the floor two more times and Bailey ended the game with two aces.
After the two teams split the second and third sets, Loyola raced out to a 9-4 lead early in Set 4. Cooper and Mokry each had two kills during that stretch, then the pair helped push the lead to 15-8. A 6-0 run made it a 19-8 game, as Dallis Brown notched two aces. Bernard had consecutive kills later in the set to extend the score to 23-9, then Sheperis ended the match with two more kills.
Loyola 3, William Carey 2 (25-18, 24-26, 23-25, 25-20, 15-9)
In the third and final match of the day, Loyola won the final two sets to earn the win. The comeback started with a 25-20 fourth-set victory, as the Wolf Pack held a lead as large as eight points in the set. Loyola used a diverse attack to jump out to a 9-4 lead, with kills from Mokry, Bernard, Sheperis and Aucoin, then Mokry recorded three more to make it a 15-8 lead. O'Neal, Aucoin and Bernard all had aces in the set, too, and Bernard's made it 19-15 after William Carey tried to narrow the gap. Aucoin tied the match 2-2 with two kills, though.
William Carey held an early 4-1 lead in the fifth set, but Loyola used an ace by Bailey and kills from Mokry and Bernard to score four straight and take the lead, 5-4. After the Crusaders tied it on the next point, Loyola used a 7-1 run to grab control of the set. Bernard and O'Neal each found the floor, then three consecutive attacks by O'Neal, Aucoin and Cooper made it a 12-6 lead. Cooper notched two more kills down the stretch, and Loyola closed out the five-set win with a 15-9 game win.
"Today started off a little rough. We just had a hard time converting on offense, then our serving struggled, then our passing struggled. We just couldn't get in a rhythm and we need that against a team like Mobile. Our middles had some success against Mobile with hitting efficiency, but it just wasn't enough.
We went into our next match against Blue Mountain confident, but we still weren't playing up to the level we knew we could. We worked that whole match to really find that rhythm we wanted, because we knew we'd need it against William Carey. Against Blue Mountain, we were able to have a much more balanced and efficient attack with Brittany, Jules, Jordan, and Emily taking some great swings. Defensively, having four players in double digit digs is incredible.
In our last match of the day, our team was fired up and ready to fight to advance. We started off really strong in the first set, then found ourselves making too many errors in sets two and three. But they were adamant that it wasn't over and proved it in sets four and five. Gracie had a really great day of setting overall and had outstanding numbers against Carey. Kailyn had a tremendous game, with a ridiculous triple-double. Helene defended extremely well against some of Carey's strongest attackers. All in all, every player on this team had each other's back and fought to the finish. And we'll need that tomorrow."
Pack Facts
The two Loyola setters stuffed the stat sheet on Friday, starting with Kailyn O'Neal, who logged her third triple-double of the season in the William Carey match: 25 assists, 17 digs, and a career-best 19 kills.
O'Neal also had a double-double against Blue Mountain with 22 assists and 11 digs.
Gracie Bailey had a career day as well, after recording 35 assists against the Crusaders.
Brittany Cooper notched double-doubles, her 10th and 11th of the season, in both of Loyola's wins. She had 11 kills, 18 digs against Blue Mountain and 12 kills, 14 digs against Carey.
Jordan Bernard registered her second double-double of the season after having 10 kills and 11 digs against William Carey.
Bernard, Cooper, and Jules Mokry each landed double-digit kills in both of Friday's victories.
Emily Sheperis was efficient in attack against Blue Mountain, setting a new season high with a .478 hitting percentage on 13 kills.
SSAC Defensive Player of the Year Helene Masone led all players with 31 digs in the five-set win against the Crusaders. Milabella Vasquez also had a season-high 16 digs.
Tournament Schedule
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 v. Faulkner
Championship | C1 | 12 pm | Mobile v. Winner Gm 11
If Necessary | C1 | 2 pm
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