NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans suffered its first Southern States Athletic Conference loss of the season on Friday, losing a four-set match to Blue Mountain Christian (25-17, 20-25, 25-18, 25-18). Next up for the Wolf Pack is a league matchup with UT Southern on Saturday. First serve is slated for 2 p.m. in The Den.Â
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After the Toppers won the first set, Loyola evened the match with a second-set win. Blue Mountain was able to jump out to a 7-3 lead in the second, though, but a service error sparked a quick 4-0 run for the Wolf Pack to pull the score to within one. Juliana Pacini and Amaya Bazemore tallied back-to-back kills to tie the game at 8-all. A couple of errors by BMCU tied it again, 10-10, then a block by Emily Sheperis and Alexa Palmer gave Loyola its first lead, 12-11. Attacks by Palmer and Preslie Boswell kept the Pack ahead, 18-15, then a service ace by Samantha Ingram helped build the lead to 20-15. The Toppers cut the score to 23-20, but a couple more errors by the visitors allowed Loyola to claim the set.Â
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Loyola started the third set hot, taking a 5-1 lead, but the Toppers battled back and played well enough to win the game and take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Toppers would go on to win the fourth set, too, finishing off the match. Both of the final two sets were 25-18 in BMCU's favor.Â
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Pack Facts
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Juliana Pacini finished the match with a team-high 10 kills to go along with 15 digs. It was her third double-double of the season, the most on the team.Â
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Simone Moreau led the team with 19 digs on the night, while Simone Moreau had 12.Â
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Emily Sheperis recorded a season-best seven total blocks, two solo and five assisted, to raise her career blocks total to 312. That's now the sixth-most career blocks in program history.Â
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Samantha Ingram had a team-high 17 assists to go along with three service aces.Â
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