Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BELLEVUE, Neb. – The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team took on two Top 25-ranked teams on Saturday, splitting the pair to finish the GoSarpy.com Labor Day Classic in Bellevue, Nebraska. First, the Pack lost a four-set match to No. 14 Ottawa (Kan.) before storming back to beat No. 18 Central Methodist (Mo.) in five sets. 
 

The Wolf Pack is set to start Southern States Athletics Conference play next week, traveling to Stillman and Mobile on Friday and Saturday. 
 

#14 Ottawa 3, Loyola 1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-17, 25-15)

The Wolf Pack trailed for most of the first set, but back-to-back kills by Preslie Boswell and an ace by Emily Sheperis cut the deficit to 21-19. The Braves, however, held on to take a 1-0 lead in the match. 
 

The two teams played evenly to start the second set, with nine ties until Loyola took an 11-10 lead after an ace by Juliana Pacini. Leading 13-9, though, Ottawa won six straight points to jump back ahead 15-13 on the Wolf Pack. Again, the two teams traded the lead a couple of times until Pacini recorded back-to-back kills to take a 21-18 lead. Pacini again, a kill by Boswell, and an ace by Ellie Connor would help even the match at 1-1.  
 

Ottawa would go on to win the next two sets to win the match. 

 

Loyola 3, #18 Central Methodist 2 (17-25, 20-25, 26-24, 25-22, 15-8)

Loyola started its second match of the day with an ace from Samantha Ingram and a kill by Simone Tyson, but Central Methodist took a 5-3 lead and expanded it to 12-7 after that. From there, the Eagles held a the lead to take a 1-0 lead in the contest. 
 

The Pack used a kill and an ace by Pacini to take an early 3-1 lead, then a couple of CMU errors and another kill by the São Paulo, Brazil, native made it a 6-4 advantage. However, the Eagles took the 7-6 lead and never relinquished it. Every time Loyola scored back-to-back points, Central Methodist ended any chance of a longer run to maintain its lead to take a 2-0 lead in the match. 
 

CMU started the third set with a quick 7-2 lead, but a 6-1 run by the Wolf Pack tied the game at 8-all. Emily Sheperis and Ellie Connor each served aces during that stretch and Pacini notched another kill. The two teams would go back and forth with six ties and four lead changes to bring the score to 15-15, as Loyola won the next two points, 17-15, with a combination of Sheperis and Pacini leading the way. The Eagles would go on to win the next five points to regain the lead, 20-17, but kills by Amaya Bazemore and Alexa Palmer, as well as a block assist by that same duo, tied the set once again, 21-21. The score would be tied again at 22 and 24, then Simone Tyson tallied back-to-back kills to give the Pack their first set win. 
 

The Wolf Pack evened the match with a fourth-set win. They started the game well, 7-3, with attacks from four different players (Sheperis, Tyson, Pacini and Boswell), as well as an ace from Sheperis and a block assists from Bazemore and Tyson. With the score tied at 11, Boswell had four straight attacks and Pacini found the floor twice during a 6-2 run, 16-14, then Sheperis added a couple of kills to keep Loyola ahead, 21-18. Another kill by Boswell and a couple of errors by CMU ended the set in Loyola's favor. 
 

Loyola completed the comeback in the fifth set, and it started with an ace by Ingram in the early going of the final game. Bazemore and Pacini combined on a block moments later, then a solo block by Bazemore kept the Pack ahead, 6-5.  Leading 8-5, Pacini kept the momentum on Loyola's side with an ace, and kills by Tyson and Bazemore made the lead 11-6. Sheperis had a couple of aces down the stretch, and Juliet Petruzelli served an ace to cap off the comeback win. 

Wolf Pack Head Coach Jesse Zabal

"This was a great weekend for us. Of course we'd love to be heading home 4-0, but we continue to take each experience and learn from it. Friday's matches provided us with opportunities to feel some ups and downs and prove that we would respond positively. 

Amaya, Emily, Ty, and Juliana all had very strong matches on Friday and made very few attacking errors. We've really improved on our attacking efficiency so far this season. That coupled with our strong defensive efforts both in digs and blocks have made us much more well rounded. 

Saturday's matches once again gave us opportunities to decide how we'd respond. We played tough against Missouri Valley, but we needed more consistency in serve receive and to be more aggressive in our serve, and we just couldn't lock that in. 
 

We knew we'd have another tough fight against Central Methodist. They're also a very well balanced team with a strong defense and varied attack. With some defensive adjustments and a stronger serve game, we were able to increase our attack efficiency and work back from being down 0-2. I'm so incredibly proud of how our team stuck by each other through every point of that match. Emily played phenomenally and Mo continued to up her defensive game. Juliet stepped in and brought some life to our team at the service line. That win was big and this team earned it."

Pack Facts

• Loyola now has two wins over ranked teams this season. 

• Simone Moreau logged 31 digs in the first match of the day, one off of her career high, before matching her career high with 32 digs in the second match. 

• Preslie Boswell led the Pack in the Ottawa match with nine kills and no errors on a .391 hitting percentage. Three other players (Juliana Pacini, Amaya Bazemore, Alexa Palmer) had eight kills in the match. 

• Pacini, Simone Tyson, and Emily Sheperis all had double-digit kills in the Central Methodist match, with Sheperis leading the way at 14 kills and a .448 hitting percentage.

• The Wolf Pack tallied double-digit blocks in both matches on Saturday. The team has put up at least 10 blocks in half the matches this season. 

• Bazemore's 10 blocks against Central Methodist were the most for any Wolf Pack player in a single match this season. She leads the team with 55 blocks through 12 matches.

• Pacini notched her second double-double of the weekend with 10 kills and 11 digs against CMU. 

• Samantha Ingram also put together her second double-double of the year with a team-high 22 assists to go along with 13 digs against CMU. In the Ottawa match, she also led the team with 20 assists. 

• Ellie Connor's first double-double of the season also came in the five setter. She finished with 16 assists and 11 digs. 

• Tyson's first double-double of the year, and 22nd of her career, came in the CMU match, where she had 10 kills to go along with 12 digs. 

 

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