Loyola Volleyball drops five-set match at William Carey

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Wolf Pack Volleyball team traveled to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for a conference matchup with William Carey University on Saturday. In the final regular-season match, the Crusaders defeated the Wolf Pack in a tie-breaking five-set match to earn the No. 3 seed in the SSAC Championship. 
 

Loyola will head to the Southern States Athletic Conference Championship in Montgomery, Alabama, starting Thursday, Nov. 14. At the conference tournament, the No. 4 seed Wolf Pack will compete for a chance to qualify for the NAIA National Championship.
 

The Wolf Pack got off to a strong start, scoring the first ten points of the match with Preslie Boswell, Natalie Burkholder, and Clarissa Dupree each finding the floor. After both teams traded points, Boswell added another kill to keep the Wolf Pack lead at double digits, 12-2. Amaya Bazemore found the floor twice to extend Loyola's lead, 15-4. The Crusaders found their footing, getting the score within single digits, 18-12, but four more points by the Wolf Pack put the set out of reach, 22-12. Loyola closed the set out from there, starting the match with a first-set victory, 25-15.
 

The teams were competitive in the early going of the second set, tying the score at 9-9 with a kill by Bazemore, assisted by Ellie Connor. The Crusaders, however, managed to break the tie to go ahead, 15-11. After Carey extended its lead, Juliana Pacini added two kills to keep the score within four, 17-13. From there, William Carey kept the ball rolling to take the second set, 25-18.
 

The third set began similarly with the conference rivals exchanging points until the score tied at 9-9. The Crusaders, once again, created a lead that put Loyola in a tough spot. Despite the Pack's best efforts to catch up, Carey ended the set to go up, 2-1, heading into set four.
 

After trading jabs early in the fourth set, the Crusaders managed to take the lead. However, kills by Pacini and Bazemore evened the score at 12-all. An error by Carey, along with another kill by Dupree put the Pack in front, 14-13. After WCU found a lead, Pacini and Dupree found the floor to tie the score once again, 19-19. With Carey taking a two-point lead, 22-20, a deep kill by Kala Emanuelli put the score within one. After Carey got to 23, Loyola scored four straight to force a tie-breaking fifth set, 25-23.
 

With WCU scoring the first two points of the fifth set, Boswell put Loyola on the board with a kill. Loyola tied things up at 4-4 with a kill by Bazemore and a combined block by Burkholder and Emma Fahy. However, William Carey pulled away from there to win the conference match.

Pack Facts

• Four Wolf Pack players ended with double-digit kills in the match: Preslie Boswell, Amaya Bazemore, Clarissa Dupree, and Juliana Pacini. 

• Boswell tied her career high with 15 kills, registering a kill on half of her 30 attempts and hitting .367 for the match. 

• Bazemore posted 14 kills on a .314 hitting percentage. It's her eighth match this year with at least 14 kills. 

• Dupree recorded 12 kills, marking her fourth match this year with at least 12. 

• Juliana Pacini notched her second match this season in double figures, posting 10 kills.

• Belén Puche Laguna led the team with 24 assists and nine digs, while Ellie Connor had 23 digs. Connor has now reached the 1,000-assist milestone and has 1,012 for her career. 

• Simone Moreau's 22 digs were a match high.  
   

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