HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The hot play continues for the Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team, this time defeating first-place William Carey in straight sets (25-17, 25-19, 25-21) on the road. The win moves the Wolf Pack's winning streak to nine straight games, and they've now won 13 straight sets, including 27 of their last 28 during this dominant streak. 
 

Loyola is now 20-9 overall and 13-3 in Southern States Athletic Conference play, sitting one game behind WCU (14-2) and two games behind Blue Mountain College (13-1) in the loss column. The Wolf Pack is off this weekend, but they're next scheduled to host BMC in The Den on Friday, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m.
 

Things started well for the Wolf Pack, jumping out 9-2 lead in the opening game behind two service aces from Emily Sheperis and kills by Simone Tyson, Emma Fahy and Brittany Cooper. Preslie Boswell followed that up with consecutive kills, 12-4, then an attack by Amaya Bazemore and two WCU attacking errors pushed the score to 15-5. After Sheperis, Boswell and Tyson helped extend the advantage to 21-9, the Wolf Pack had to withstand a 7-0 run by the Crusaders that cut the score to 21-16. Loyola did just that, as Tyson put a stop to Carey's run and put her team in position to take a 1-0 lead in the match. 
 

Loyola got off to another hot start in the second set, 5-1, thanks to two kills each by Sheperis and Tyson, but the Crusaders battled back to tie the game at six and eight before the Pack took the lead for good. Loyola scored four straight thanks to four errors by WCU, one of which was a block assist from Boswell and Sheperis, 12-8, and an ace by Gracie Bailey made it a 14-10 lead. Cooper served an ace moments later, 16-12, and three kills by Bazemore kept the Pack ahead, 21-17. WCU kept it close late, 22-19, but a kill by Boswell, a bad set from Carey and an ace by Simone Moreau gave Loyola a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. 
 

When William Carey took a 1-0 lead in the third set, it was the first lead of the entire match for the home team, but Loyola battled to take a 7-6 advantage 12 points later. Tyson had three kills during that stretch, and an ace by the junior helped Loyola to a 7-0 run to jump up 12-6. The two teams exchanged a couple of points to bring the set to 16-12, and two separate block assists, one by Bazemore and Boswell and another by Bazemore and Tyson, made it a 20-12 score. WCU cut the deficit to five a few points later, 20-15, then two kills by Boswell and one by Cooper finished off the Crusaders for good. 
 

Wolf Pack Head Coach Jesse Zabal

"We are so incredibly proud of our group. They have put in so much intentional and focused work the past few weeks and it absolutely showed tonight. Carey is a great team with some really strong pieces, but our team has had their eye on this match since September 25. It was personal and all they wanted was to show & prove who we really are.

The combination of our defensive play and our offensive efficiency was so impressive. Rebecca and Gracie have evolved and grown tremendously over the course of the season. To come out of all of these matches with such an even spread of attacks and such even assist numbers just shows how well they are seeing the game and the quality of their decision making. Ty has been chomping at the bit for a game like she had tonight, she was all-around phenomenal. Amaya and Emily dominated both on offense and defense. Mo led the back court and continues to put her body on the line to make saves and bring great energy. Brittany has been working so hard to improve her blocking and it showed tonight. She had some incredible stops and continued to show up offensively as well. And Preslie had a strong offensive game for us. She has become really crafty and her vision of the block in front of her has gotten stronger and stronger.

Thirteen conference wins is another milestone for us that I'm incredibly proud of. We have a nice break before our last set of regular season matches, but I know our group is eager to keep putting in the work."
 

Pack Facts

• Loyola has earned 13 conference wins this season, the program's most in a single season in the Southern States Athletic Conference. 

• The team's current streak of nine victories is also the longest win streak of Jesse Zabal's tenure. 

• Simone Tyson was Loyola's leading attacker with 11 kills. She also grabbed her team-high 10th double-double this season with 11 digs.

• Loyola's net play was superb, as Wolf Pack players combined to put up 12 total blocks. Amaya Bazemore and Emily Sheperis both had matches with one solo and five assisted blocks. 

• Bazemore's hitting percentage was a match-high .467, while Sheperis was right behind at .417. 

• Bazemore also was tied for second on the team in kills with seven. Preslie Boswell, who also had seven kills, had a hit percentage at .278. 

• Loyola's team attack was efficient at .234, while William Carey's was just .076, thanks to the Loyola blocking effort. 

• The Wolf Pack setters were both in double digits for assists, Rebecca LaCour with 17 and Gracie Bailey with 16. 

• Bailey, who reached 2,000 career assists last week, now has 2,048. That's the seventh-most in a career in Loyola history. 

• Three different players earned at least 10 digs, including Tyson's 11. Libero Simone Moreau had 16 digs to lead the team while Brittany Cooper had 13. 

• Cooper vaulted into ninth place on Loyola's digs list, now with 1,320 digs in her career. 

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