Box Score The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team hit the road this weekend to begin Southern States Athletic Conference play, going the distance with the Talladega Tornadoes Friday night
TALLADEGA, Ala. – The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team opened Southern States Athletic Conference play with a tough five-set victory over the Talladega Tornadoes Friday, winning in five sets (26-28, 25-12, 25-13, 19-25, 15-13). The Wolf Pack fell behind 1-0 in the match before winning the next two sets, only to be forced to play a fifth game to earn the SSAC road win.
The Wolf Pack (6-5, 1-0 in SSAC) continues their SSAC slate Saturday at Blue Mountain College, as the Wolf Pack and Lady Toppers are set for a 2 p.m. contest in Blue Mountain, Mississippi.
The first set featured early ties throughout the early going, as the two teams were knotted six times before Loyola took its first multi-point lead, 9-7. Simone Moreau had an early ace, and Preslie Boswell and Jordan Bernard each had kills to help the Pack. Talladega, however, regained the lead, 14-13, winning six of seven points to jump back out ahead. Trailing 17-14 moments later, Brittany Cooper, Alicia Simmons and Jordan Bernard combined for five kills to keep Loyola close, then another attack from Boswell tied the game, 20-20. Talladega, though, was able to hold off Loyola's late push to win the first set 28-26.
The Wolf Pack raced out to an early lead in Set 2, using kills by Cooper and Simmons to take a 6-2 lead. After Talladega cut the Wolf Pack's lead to 8-5, Bernard had three quick attacks to extend the advantage out to six points, 12-6, then Simmons and Boswell helped push the score to 18-10. The Wolf Pack cruised from there, tying the match with a 25-12 second-set win.
Attacks by Cooper and Simone Tyson got Loyola off to another good start in the third set, 5-1, and Boswell and Simmons made it a five-point lead, 10-5, a few minutes later. Simmons had two more kills and Tyson added another, giving the Wolf Pack another big advantage in the third set, 17-10. From there, Loyola, again, cruised to the set win to take its first lead in the match, 2-1.
After Talladega rebounded with a fourth-set win, forcing a fifth game, Loyola jumped out to a quick lead in the final set to set the tone. A kill by a Tyson and service ace from Cooper put the Pack up 5-1 early, then Simmons and Boswell combined for three straight attacks to extend the lead to 8-1. The Tornadoes, however, didn't go down quietly, cutting Loyola's lead to 13-12, and even tying the game a point later, but Loyola's won the two final points off errors by Talladega to seal the win.
"We're glad to get our first conference win, but we would've liked for it to look a lot cleaner than it did. It took us the first set to truly settle in after having only played one match in 20 days. Overall, we struggled to play a consistent game tonight. We're very proud of Alicia, who's stepping in to play middle this weekend. We didn't have much time to prepare her and she showed up in great ways for us offensively. Simone Moreau made some really great defensive plays. We turn around with another tough challenge against Blue Mountain tomorrow."
Pack Facts
Loyola's win Friday marked the fourth straight season the Wolf Pack have opened SSAC play with a win.
Simone Moreau recorded a new season-high in digs Friday, notching 27 against Talladega. The freshman libero has reached double-digits in digs in every match this season when playing at least two sets, too.
Brittany Cooper also had a season-high in digs, tallying 21 in the contest. It's the junior's first 20-dig performance since Nov. 15, 2019, when she had 21 against Blue Mountain College.
Simone Tyson was the third Loyola player with at least 20 digs against Talladega, collecting exactly that amount Friday.
The Wolf Pack totaled 101 digs in the match, the most in a match so far this season.
Alicia Simmons led the Wolf Pack with nine kills, a new season-high for the freshman. She's previously recorded eight kills in two matches this season.
Gracie Bailey had a team-high 22 assists in the match, giving the junior 1,222 for her career, which is eighth in Loyola volleyball history. She also had 10 digs and that's the third double-double of the season for Bailey.
Kailyn O'Neal also had a double-double, her third of the season as well, with 13 assists and 11 digs.
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