Loyola’s season ends Friday

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The 2024 season came to an end on Friday for the Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team, dropping a four-set Semifinal matchup with William Carey at the Southern States Athletic Conference Championship. Loyola swept Point earlier in the day to get to the tournament's knockout round. 
 

The Wolf Pack finished 12-19 overall and fourth in the SSAC with a 7-6 record.   
 

Pool Play: Loyola 3 Point 0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-13)

Amaya Bazemore had three kills in the early portion of the first set to give Loyola a 6-5 lead, then Preslie Boswell and Emma Fahy added a few attacks to make it an 11-7 lead. From there, Point wasn't a threat in the opening game, as Boswell and Clarissa Dupree powered a quick 4-0 run, 15-8, and two kills and a service ace by Bazemore helped Loyola go ahead 22-12. 
 

Juliana Pacini recorded back-to-back kills to break a tie, 6-4, and she added another to make it an 8-6 lead. Natalie Burkholder and Dupree pushed the score to 12-8, then Fahy and Bazemore each found the floor to eventually extend the advantage to 18-11. The set was essentially put away with Kala Emanuelli on the serve, 24-15, but Point did make it interesting with five straight points before the Boswell finished things off. 
 

The Wolf Pack made quick work in the third set to close out the set, but Point did play Loyola close in the beginning. Dupree recorded two kills and Pacini and Boswell each had one to make the score 11-8 in Loyola's favor. Once the Skyhawks scored to make it 11-9, the Pack won 14 of the next 18 points to close out the set. Boswell had four kills and consecutive attacks by Dupree completed Loyola's dominant victory. 
 

Semifinals: William Carey 3, Loyola 1 (22-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-22)

Boswell had three early kills, 5-3, and attacks from Bazemore, Fahy and Pacini put the Pack on top, 9-6, in the opening set. Ellie Connor served an ace and Boswell added another kill, and the Wolf Pack were off to a good start, 14-8. Pacini, Boswell and Connor all won points to hold off a WCU run, 20-16, but the Crusaders fought back to tie it at 21-21 and 22-22. Dupree hit one off a Crusader block and Belén Puche Laguna served back-to-back aces to give Loyola a 1-0 lead in the match. 
 

William Carey stormed back by winning the next three sets to win the match. There were five early ties in the second set until William Carey used a 12-5 run to take a 21-13 lead. The third set was much of the same in the early going, but the Wolf Pack stayed within striking distance, 16-15, until the Crusaders pulled ahead, 23-17. The fourth set was much closer, though. Bazemore had two kills and a block to give Loyola a 17-14 lead, but WCU came back with four straight points to jump ahead, 18-17. Pacini and Burkholder attacks broke a couple of ties to put Loyola in front, 20-19, however, William Carey won six of the final eight points to end the match. 
 

Wolf Pack Head Coach Jesse Zabal

"It would be really easy to dwell in the disappointment of this loss, and we are all surely disappointed, but we are also so incredibly proud of the work this team did to get to this semifinal match. A few months ago, I'm sure we all had some level of doubt that we'd even get here. It's been a tough journey this year with really tough opponents, challenging & untimely injuries, and through it all this group chose to move forward. They picked themselves up every single time and faced the next challenge and proved they deserved a post-season run. 

"Amaya continued to be a difference maker for us all week long after a phenomenal final season. Preslie had an incredible second half of the season and really just leaned into giving everything she had. Simone was more locked in this last half of the season than I've ever seen her which resulted in her keeping so many plays alive for us. I couldn't ask anything more of this group and the way they showed up for each other in this last match. They fought all the way through and walked away from it all with their heads high. I am immensely proud."

Pack Facts

• This was the fifth consecutive season in which Loyola's volleyball team has advanced out of pool play into the SSAC semifinals.

• Amaya Bazemore had 11 kills in each match to finish with a career-best 327 kills on the season (825 career kills in three seasons) and a hitting percentage of .347, which will go down as the third-best season hitting percentage for any player in Wolf Pack history. Bazemore owns two of the top three best hitting percentages in that category after breaking the school record with a .387 last year. She also has the school's career hitting percentage record with a .351 average in her three years at Loyola.

• Defensively, Bazemore had 26 blocks in the tournament to bring her season total to 134. That's the seventh-most blocks in a season in program history, and her 366 total blocks in just three seasons rank as the fifth-most all-time at Loyola. 

• Loyola's libero Simone Moreau recorded 27 digs in the final match, bringing her to 535 total digs on the season at a career best 4.8 digs per set. That season total is also a career high for Moreau, and it's the eighth-most digs in a single season in program history.

• In four years at Loyola, Moreau totaled 1,920 digs, which ranks fourth in Wolf Pack history all-time. 

• Preslie Boswell, who led Loyola with 48 kills in the tournament after having 24 kills between the two matches Friday, finished the season with 232 kills at 2.4 kills per set on a .215 hitting percentage, all career highs. In four years at Loyola, Boswell totaled 724 kills. 
   

2024 SSAC Volleyball Championship Schedule

Pool A: #1 Mobile, #4 Loyola, #5 Point, #8 UT Southern
Pool B: #2 Blue Mountain, #3 William Carey, #6 Faulkner, #7 Life
 

Day 1 - Pool A | Nov. 14
No. 1 Mobile def. No. 5 Point, 3-0
No. 4 Loyola def. No. 8 UT Southern, 3-1
No. 5 Point def. No. 8 UT Southern, 3-0
No. 1 Mobile def. No. 4 Loyola, 3-0
 

Day 1 - Pool B | Nov. 14
No. 2 Blue Mountain def. No. 6 Faulkner, 3-0
No. 3 William Carey def. No. 7 Life, 3-0
No. 6 Faulkner def. No. 7 Life, 3-2
No. 3 William Carey def. No. 2 Blue Mountain, 3-0
 

Day 2 - Pool A | Nov. 15
No. 1 Mobile def.  No. 8 UT Southern 3-0
No. 4 Loyola def. No. 5 Point, 3-0
No. 1 Mobile def. No. 2 Blue Mountain, 3-1
 

Day 2 - Pool B | Nov. 15
No. 2 Blue Mountain def. No. 7 Life, 3-1
No. 3 William Carey def. No. 6 Faulkner, 3-0
No. 3 William Carey def. No. 4 Loyola, 3-1
 

Day 3 | Nov. 16
2:00 p.m. | No. 3 William Carey vs. No. 1 Mobile