NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team saw their run at the Southern States Athletic Conference Championship come to an end Friday night, dropping a four-set match (22-25, 25-19, 22-25, 19-25) to Mobile in the semifinal round. 
 

Loyola is currently 23-12 overall and it'll now await Monday's NAIA Selection Show to find out if it'll play in the NAIA National Championship tournament. The show will air on the NAIA's Facebook page at 10 a.m. 
 

Loyola earned a spot in the SSAC Championship semifinals after winning just one set against Life University earlier in the day. Due to tiebreaker rules, that's all the Wolf Pack needed to do in their final game of pool play to earn the No. 1 position out of Pool B. The Pack lost to the Running Eagles in four sets as well. 
 

After dropping the first set to Mobile 25-22, Loyola jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set after two kills from Emily Sheperis and a kill each by Brittany Cooper, Simone Tyson and Emma Fahy. Tyson recorded another kill after that, then a few Mobile errors led to a 10-4 advantage. The Rams, however, fought back to make it a 14-11 Loyola lead, but a quick 4-1 run pushed the score back out to 18-12. Amaya Bazemore picked up her third kill, 20-15, and Sheperis had three attacks down the stretch to help tie the match with a 25-19 second-set win. 
 

The third set with a hard-fought one, but the Rams ultimately won it to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Loyola scored the first three points after two Mobile errors and a kill by Cooper, then another attack by Cooper helped make it a 5-2 lead. Mobile was able to tie it at 7, though, eventually taking a 10-7 lead on the Wolf Pack after a 7-0 run. Trailing 18-13, a Tyson kill and a block assist from Bazemore and Fahy narrowed the gap to 18-17, then kills by Tyson and Bazemore tied it again at 22-all. Mobile, however, won the final three points to win the set 25-22. 
 

The fourth set featured 11 ties in the early going to bring the score to 15-15 before Mobile pushed ahead for good. Cooper, Sheperis, Tyson, Fahy and Bazemore kept up the balanced attack for the Wolf Pack during that stretch, but the Rams pushed ahead 18-15. Preslie Boswell kept Loyola in it, 18-16, however, Mobile won the final seven of 10 points to claim the match. 
 

Pack Facts

• Emily Sheperis was in double figures for kills in both matches, with 10 against Life and 12 against Mobile. She also had a team-best .407 hitting percentage in the Mobile match, with just one attack error. 

• Sheperis moved into eighth place on Loyola's all-time blocks list, and she's now up to 267 blocks in her career. 

• Loyola's middle blockers were efficient in the attack on Friday, as Amaya Bazemore posted 11 kills on a .556 hitting percentage in the first match of the day. She added eight kills against Mobile with three blocks.

• Simone Tyson had a team-high 14 digs against Life, with nine more coming against Mobile. She also earned 11 kills against the Rams. 

• Gracie Bailey had a match-high 26 assists in the Mobile match, adding a team-high 13 digs for her ninth double-double this season.

• Rebecca LaCour also recorded a double-double on Friday, her third of the season, with with 13 assists and 10 digs against Life. 

• Bailey's 570 assists this season are the most in a single season in her career. 

• After this week's matches, Brittany Cooper and Bailey both have at least 180 aces for their careers. Cooper, with 180, ranks ninth in the Wolf Pack record book in that category, while Bailey (182) ranks eighth. 

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.