SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team saw a successful start to the San Antonio ShinDig tournament on Friday, beating both Friends University and Westcliff University at the Our Lady of the Lakes University-hosted event. The Wolf Pack started the day with a dominant performance over Friends, winning in straight sets before a tough five sets win over Westcliff University.   

The Wolf Pack is back in action with two more games on Saturday, and both matches are primed to be tough tests. First, Loyola will face its first Top 25 opponent of the season, matching up with No. 23 Southwestern Assemblies of God University (Texas) at 9 a.m. before going up against the tournament-host, OLLU. 

Loyola 3, Friends 0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-11) 

The first set featured a slow start for the Wolf Pack, falling behind 7-3 in the early going. However, a couple of errors by Friends and a kill by Simone Tyson got a Wolf Pack run going. An ace by Rebecca LaCour and a couple of more errors by the opposition gave Loyola its first lead 8-7, then Sydney Love, who was making her collegiate debut, recorded her first career kill, 9-8. Amaya Bazemore extended the Wolf Pack's advantage with a trio of attacks, and aces by LaCour and Simone Moreau helped put the game away. 

The Pack picked up right where they left off in the second set, racing out a huge lead in the, 12-5. Preslie Boswell had a pair of early kills during that opening run, and Bazemore notched three blocks to dominate at the net. A service ace by Gracie Bailey and a kill by Brittany Cooper kept the momentum in Loyola's favor, 16-10, and back-to-back block assists by Bazemore and Emma Fahy put the set out of reach, 20-10. 

The third set was the most dominant for the Wolf Pack, using an 8-0 run midway through the game to create separation from the Falcons. Tyson got things going with a kill and Bazemore and Fahy, again, combined for block assists on back-to-back points to take an early 3-1 lead. Holding a 9-7 lead, Loyola got six errors by Friends and kills each by Bazemore and Kala Emanuelli to race ahead, 17-7. Emanuelli added two more kills in the final stretch of the set, and Boswell and Alicia Simmons found the floor on attacks to solidify the straight-sets win for the Pack. 

Loyola 3, Westcliff (25-13, 25-20, 24-26, 8-25, 15-11)

After Westcliff took an early 5-2 lead in the match's first set, The Wolf Pack won 12 of the next 13 points. Brittany Cooper got the run going with a kill, then a LaCour service ace and a Westcliff error made it a 5-5 game. The Warriors retook the 6-5 advantage, but with Tyson serving, the Wolf Pack ripped off nine straight points to jump up 14-6. Tyson had four aces during that stretch, and Boswell and Cooper each had attacks as well. Tyson added four more kills in the set, as Loyola ran away with the win. 

The Wolf Pack used the service game of Brittany Cooper to get an early 9-0, jumping out to a 9-3 lead. Cooper served up one ace during that time, and Bazemore continued her dominating net play with three blocks, too. The two teams traded points from there until Westcliff made a run to cut the score to 16-14. However, kills by Cooper and Gracie Bailey, followed by more blocks from Bazemore helped keep Loyola ahead, ending the set with a 25-20 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match. 

After dropping the next two sets to force a deceive fifth game, Loyola battled to take the match with a 15-11 win. Bazemore and Tyson had kills in the early going to stay close to Westcliff, 5-3, then four straight points gave Loyola the lead, 6-5. Love, Tyson and Boswell all found the floor on attacks, and LaCour served an ace to flip the score in Loyola's favor. With the game tied at 7, the Pack scored four more consecutive points thanks to kills by Cooper and Love, then two more Cooper attacks helped seal the match. 

Wolf Pack Head Coach Jesse Zabal

"Really proud of our group today. They came out extremely strong. Our hitting efficiency was strong in the first match against Friends, and even more impressive was our 17 team blocks. Our bigs put on a show at the net and it was fun to watch. In our second match, we continued the trend of a strong hitting percentage to start, but that unfortunately dwindled. Westfcliff's block gave us trouble and they started serving a lot tougher later in the match. I'm most proud of how our team owned their roles in it turning into a five-set match and they refused to let it slip by them. We're back at it early tomorrow with another couple of tough matches."

Pack Facts

• Loyola combined for 17 team blocks against Friends, the highest team total since Nov. 10, 2017, when Loyola defeated William Carey at the SSAC Championship tournament. 

• Amaya Bazemore was a force at the net in the Friends match, amassing six solo blocks, and 12 total. It was the most blocks for a Wolf Pack player in one match since that Nov. 10, 2017, match when Adelia Obioha had 13.

• Against Westcliff, Bazemore led the team again with eight blocks, four solo and four assisted.

• Emma Fahy set a new career high in blocks with six against Friends. She had four kills against Westcliff.

• Sydney Love made her Wolf Pack debut against Friends, collecting two kills and four blocks in the match. She added three more blocks and five more kills against Westcliff. 

• With the second-highest dig total of her career, Simone Moreau led the team with 28 digs.

• Simone Tyson and Rebecca LaCour each recorded their second double-doubles of the season in the Westcliff match. Tyson had 11 kills, 13 digs, and four assists, while LaCour had 19 assists and 13 digs.

• Brittany Cooper was the second player with double-digit kills against Westcliff, putting up a team-high five aces with her 10 kills. 

• Kala Emanuelli was efficient in her second match of the season, recording three kills in seven attempts against Friends.

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.