Volleyball wins seventh straight Friday

NEW ORLEANS – The regular season is entering its home stretch, and the Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team stayed hot with a four-set win over Blue Mountain Christian on Friday. The Pack snapped BMCU's nine-game winning streak while improving theirs to seven straight victories, moving their Southern States Athletic Conference record to 6-4 with three games to play. 
 

Loyola currently sits in fourth place, a half-game behind BMCU in third and a full game ahead of Point University in fifth. It'll host Tennessee Southern on Saturday at 1 p.m. for Senior Day. The Wolf Pack seniors will be honored prior to first serve. 
 

Juliana Pacini and Natalie Burkholder got the scoring started with a block, then after the Toppers scored the next three points, kills by Preslie Boswell and Clarissa Dupree sparked a 7-0 run for the Wolf Pack, 8-3, that prompted an early BMCU timeout. After the Toppers scored their fourth point coming out of the timeout, the Wolf Pack ripped off nine consecutive points to take command of the game, 17-4. Belén Puche Laguna was the server during that run, as she served an ace while Amaya Bazemore collected two kills and two blocks. Alexa Palmer also had a kill and a block, and she added another to help close out the first set with ease.  
 

The second set played much closer, but the Pack still prevailed, 25-21, to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Pacini and Laguna both served aces in the early going to make it a 6-3 Loyola lead, and Bazemore had two kills to preserve the advantage, 9-7, a couple of points later. After BMCU tied it, 11-11, Burkholder had her hand on two blocks on back-to-back points to push Loyola back out in front, then another Laguna ace forced the Toppers to call another timeout with it being an 18-15 score. A combination of Bazemore and Pacini on the attack and an ace by Gabriella Masiello gave Loyola the edge it needed down the stretch. 
 

After the Toppers won the third set, they scored the first three points of the fourth set before Bazemore got two kills to get the Wolf Pack on the board, 4-2. Bazemore would add her third of the set shortly after that, 5-4, and attacks from Palmer and Pacini helped tie the game, 7-7. The set would remain close, as Dupree, Bazemore and Boswell got the score knotted at 12-all before Loyola took the 13-12 lead. The two teams traded the lead a few times before kills by Dupree and Boswell put the Pack ahead by two, 19-17. BMCU won the first point after the timeout, but a kill by Dupree and a block by Dupree and Bazemore made it a 21-18 lead. Dupree and Bazemore, again, found the floor, 24-21, and Palmer claimed the final kill to cap off the victory. 
 

Wolf Pack Head Coach Jesse Zabal

"Wow, what a match. Our team did a fantastic job of preparing for this match this week, staying focused in the tough moments today, sticking to what was working, and making adjustments where needed. We've been wanting that win for a few years now and I'm just so proud of how our team showed up tonight. Simone was ridiculous on defense and Amaya continues to be such a key part of our success offensively. Tomorrow will be an emotional day as we see these seniors off, but I know we're also ready to get this win back from Tennessee Southern."
 

Pack Facts

• Amaya Bazemore set a new career high with 18 kills. She also only had three errors, finishing with a hitting percentage of .417. 

• Bazemore also had five blocks, tying with Natalie Burkholder for a team high.

• Simone Moreau started strong with 12 digs in the first set, finishing with 30 digs for the match. This was her fifth time recording at least 30 digs in a match at Loyola, and it was her second time reaching that mark in fewer than five sets. 

• Moreau is now fifth in career digs at Loyola with 1,778. 

• Clarissa Dupree, Juliana Pacini, and Alexa Palmer each totaled eight kills in the match, with Palmer's final kill ending the match. Preslie Boswell was right behind those three with seven kills for the match.

• Belén Puche Laguna led the team with 21 assists, her third consecutive match reaching that mark. She also served a new season high with four aces. 

• Gabriella Masiello and Ellie Connor each totaled nine assists, with seven of Connor's coming in the final set. 
   

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