Volleyball wins four-set match for sixth straight win

NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team kept its winning streak alive on Saturday, defeating Life University in four sets to earn its sixth straight victory. The win over the Running Eagles helps the Wolf Pack hop their Southern States Athletic Conference counterparts in the league standings, sitting in fourth with four matches left on the schedule. 
 

Loyola (5-4 in SSAC) continues its homestand next weekend when it hosts Blue Mountain Christian (7-3) on Friday at 6 p.m. for another pivotal SSAC matchup. The Toppers are currently third in the SSAC standings having played one more league match than Loyola. 
 

Life jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match after winning the first set, but things quickly changed in the Wolf Pack's favor. 
 

The Wolf Pack made a statement to start the second set. They took advantage of a handful of Life errors, a kill by Clarissa Dupree and two service aces from Juliet Petruzelli to jump out to a 7-1 lead. Preslie Boswell, Juliana Pacini and Alexa Palmer found the floor on attacks, 11-5, as the Running Eagles weren't much of a threat in the set. More kills by Dupree, Boswell and Amaya Bazemore kept the momentum on Loyola's side, 19-13, and an ace by Pacini helped tie the match, 1-1. 
 

The dominance continued in the next game when the Wolf Pack breezed to a 2-1 lead in the match after a 25-13 third-set win. Four straight kills by Dupree, Palmer, Kala Emanuelli and Bazemore got things going, and one from Pacini quickly made it a 7-3 score. Boswell recorded three kills in four points, 11-7, and Dupree picked up two more attacks, 14-7, to pull away. Simone Moreau served an ace, and the Wolf Pack never looked back. 
 

The fourth set played much closer than the previous two. Boswell collected two kills in the early portion of the game, and Ellie Connor had an ace to give the Pack a slim 6-5 advantage, then Boswell added three more to bring the score to 19-14 in Loyola's favor. Life battled back to make it a two-point Wolf Pack lead, 20-18, but a block assist by Boswell and Natalie Burkholder ended any chance for the Running Eagles to seize the momentum. 
 

Wolf Pack Head Coach Jesse Zabal

"I'm really proud of how we played, especially considering the first set loss. There are still a lot of positives to take from that through. We still played fairly well in that first set and Life just did a few things better than us and were able to go on some scoring runs. We were also so poised in the following sets that we were able to settle in and maintain a really strong side out percentage. 

"Belen has come in and done some really good things for us at the setting role, finding some hot hitters at good times. Clarissa, Preslie, and Alexa did a fantastic job of coming alive offensively. As a team we clarified some attacking zones and they really latched on to that information and used it to put the ball away. Defensively, Mo has again found her moment of the season to level up and just keep balls off the floor, and Kala has done a great job of being a steady presence in the back court. And Juliet has been strong for us at the service line. It's nice to keep this streak alive as we go into the last half of competition with the west division. I'm confident we can stay locked in and keep rolling. "
 

Pack Facts

• After one of her better defensive performances of the year with 24 digs, Simone Moreau now has the sixth-most career digs in Loyola history with 1,748. 

• Belén Puche Laguna tied a season high for assists in a match with 23. In two matches this week, she totaled 45 assists, averaging 6.4 per set. 

• Ellie Connor was close to 20 assists and nearly had a double-double, as she posted a stat line of 19 assists and eight digs, adding two points on a kill and an ace. 

• Preslie Boswell came alive in the third set, posting four kills in the third and five kills in the fourth set to finish with a team-high 12 kills for the match. The senior has recorded at least six kills in nine straight matches. 

• Amaya Bazemore finished with 11 kills and just one error for the second straight match. With 22 kills over the last two matches, she also hit .357 for the week. 

• Clarissa Dupree was the third Wolf Pack attacker with double-digit kills, earning 10 kills in the match. 

• Kala Emanuelli recorded double-digit digs for the first time since August, finishing with 11 digs and getting a kill from the back row as well. 

Subscribe to Pack Tracks, a Loyola Athletics Newsletter, for all of the latest information >> https://loyolawolfpack.com/subscribe.aspx. You can also 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.