NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team saw their nine-match winning streak snapped on Friday, dropping a Southern States Athletic Conference contest against Blue Mountain in three sets (14-25, 16-25, 13-25). 

Loyola will wrap up the regular season with two matches on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. in The Den. First, the Wolf Pack welcomes Stillman College for their SSAC finale, then they'll play host to Louisiana Christian for a 3 p.m. contest. Both Stillman and LCU will play each other at 1 p.m. in-between Loyola's matches. 

The Wolf Pack is now 20-10 overall and 13-4 in league play after Friday's loss, which is positioned third in the SSAC standings and one game ahead of fourth-place Mobile. A win over Stillman on Saturday will lock up the No. 3 seed in next week's SSAC Championship. 

Attacks from Simone Tyson and Amaya Bazemore helped the Wolf Pack stay close in the early going of the first set, but the Lady Toppers were still able to take a 9-3 lead through the first 12 points. An 11-5 lead would prompt a Loyola timeout, which was followed up by three straight points for Loyola, 11-8. However, Blue Mountain was able to stretch its lead again on its way to the 25-14 first-set win. 

Emily Sheperis and Emma Fahy recorded kills to begin the second set, bringing the game to a 4-4 tie. Tyson added another kill to keep it tied, 5-5, but the Lady Toppers pushed ahead 11-6 moments later to force Loyola into a timeout. Three errors by BMC and two kills by Sheperis cut the deficit to 13-11, then Tyson cleaned up an easy over and Sheperis served an ace to tie the set, 13-13. However, Blue Mountain scored the next nine of 10 points to get in position to win the second set, 25-16. 

Blue Mountain came out of the gates hot in the third set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. That early momentum allowed the visitors to maintain a large lead throughout the rest of the game. 

Wolf Pack Head Coach Jesse Zabal

"Tonight was tough. We just couldn't find a rhythm and it just felt like one thing was always off by a little bit. Also credit to Blue Mountain for playing a great game. We worked the team really hard this week and a lot of it is in preparation for next week. The conference tournament can be grueling and we want to be sure we're prepared for that. Gracie really put her heart into it tonight, she was all over the floor trying to make saves, and Ty was able to have a strong offensive attack. It's so tough to lose this one, but we also need to turn around and have a strong day tomorrow, regardless. We also want to turn our attention to our seniors and celebrate all they've done for our program. We're looking forward to honoring them and finishing out our regular season on a strong note."

Pack Facts

• Simone Tyson led the team with eight kills, while Emily Sheperis had six. 

• Gracie Bailey, who had a team-high 13 assists, moved into a tie for eighth in the Loyola record book with 176 service aces in her career. 

• Simone Moreau recorded a team-high 11 digs. 

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