Box Score The Wolf Pack volleyball team traveled to Georgia for two SSAC matches this weekend, defeating Brewton-Parker Friday to start the road trip
MOUNT VERNON, Ga. – The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team hit the road for the second straight weekend, taking on two Southern States Athletic Conference in the process. After enduring travel issues that caused the match to start an hour late, the Wolf Pack started the road swing with a dominant straight-sets win (25-14, 25-16, 25-9) over Brewton-Parker Friday night.
Loyola (7-6, 2-1 in SSAC) is set to make the trip to Macon, Georgia, Saturday to face Middle Georgia State at 1 p.m. CDT in another SSAC matchup.
Loyola and Brewton-Parker played to an early 4-4 tie before Emily Sheperis' attack and Brittany Cooper's serving gave the Pack a 7-4 lead. BPC cut the score to 9-8, Loyola, but the Wolf Pack pushed ahead after a quick back-and-forth between the two teams. With the 11-10 lead, Cooper and Sheperis each recorded kills and Simone Moreau served an ace to help extend the lead to 17-10, then Sheperis, Cooper and Gabriela Martinez on the attack, and Gracie Bailey serving, put Loyola up 22-11. Sheperis finished the Loyola run with the set-clinching kill.
Loyola started the second set hot, using an attack by Alicia Simmons and an ace by Cooper to take a 6-2 lead early. Simone Tyson had back-to-back attacks to put the Wolf Pack ahead, and a fantastic defensive play by Moreau kept a rally alive to push the advantage to 11-6. Leading 16-12, Sheperis and Simmons had consecutive attacks, then Sheperis finished off a point at the net to make it a 19-12 lead. A Kailyn O'Neal ace and another attack by Tyson gave Loyola a 25-16 second-set win.
Loyola made it look even easier in the third set, quickly finishing off the match with a 25-9 set win. Preslie Boswell, another defensive play by Moreau, and a block by Sheperis gave Loyola an early lead, 6-2, and the Wolf Pack didn't look back from there. Sheperis and Simmons combined on a block, the same for Martinez and Boswell, to extend the advantage to 12-4, and a Rebecca LaCour ace made it 18-5. Cooper added a couple more kills, and Bailey finished things off with a quick attack to end the match in three sets.
Wolf Pack in the National Spotlight
The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team will make an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America Saturday, as head coach Jesse Zabal, assistant coach Robert Pitre and two Wolf Pack student-athletes (Milabella Vasquez and Rebecca LaCour) share how the team showed resilience during its Hurricane Ida evacuation. GMA Weekend Edition airs from 7-9 CDT Saturday on ABC.
"Overcoming adversity seems to be a theme for our program this year. We had a little bus trouble today, which pushed our match time and had us rushing into prep for the match. This team, once again, handled the situation with such grace and intention, which resulted in us getting back in the win column. It took the start of the first set to settle in and get our minds focused on the game plan, but once we were in it, we finished strong. Simone Moreau made some great adjustments on defense from the start of the match and picked up some great digs. Emily Sheperis had a great night back after not being able to compete last weekend. Through it all, we are extremely grateful for this group and how they continue to put their resiliency on display. We are very proud."
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
