Pack splits a pair of home matches Saturday

NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack took on William Carey and Louisiana Christian during a tri-match day in The Den on Saturday, splitting the two matches for a 1-1 day. The Pack started the day with a Southern States Athletic Conference loss to WCU before ending the day with a non-conference win against the Wildcats. 
 

Loyola will continue SSAC play when they face the Middle Georgia State Knights in Macon, Georgia, on Friday, Oct. 4, at 5 p.m. CDT. 
 

William Carey 3, Loyola 0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-15) 

The Wolf Pack struck first in the starting set of Saturday's match against William Carey, starting with a kill from Amaya Bazemore and an ace from Gabriella Masiello, 2-0. Over the next several points, the match tied seven times with both teams trading kills until the Crusaders took the lead, 10-9. While Carey maintained its lead, the Wolf Pack kept the score close, getting within three with a kill from Clarissa Dupree, 23-20. However, the Crusaders found the floor for the final two points to secure set one.
 

After Loyola began the second set with a quick lead, 4-2, William Carey found its footing, taking a lead of its own. From that point, the Crusaders stayed ahead to win the set, 25-17, taking a two-set lead. The third set went similarly to the second with Carey keeping its momentum going through the final set to take the match.
 

Loyola 3, Louisiana Christian 0  (25-14, 25-17, 25-17) 

After Preslie Boswell got the Wolf Pack on the board in the opening set, Bazemore and Dupree combined to score the next six points to make it a 7-2 lead. Bazemore and Dupree notched two block assists while also picking up two and one kills, respectively. Finally, Bazemore and Emma Fahy combined for a block to end the 7-0 run. Three more kills by Boswell and one from Juliana Pacini kept the dominance going, 14-7, and Loyola extended the lead even more, 18-8, thanks to two more kills by Dupree. Loyola cruised from there to take a 1-0 lead in the match. 
 

A couple of service errors by the Wildcats gave Loyola its first two points, then Katy Hollingsworth had two kills, a block and an ace to make it a 9-4 lead early in the second set. The Pack had five different players (Boswell, Bazemore, Dupree, Pacini and Masiello) tally a kill during a 5-1 run, 14-7, then back-to-back attacks from Pacini moved the score to 17-11 in Loyola's favor. After LCU cut it to two, 19-17, consecutive kills by Boswell and Bazemore helped secure the 2-0 lead in the match. 
 

A setter dump by Masiello helped spark four straight points for Loyola in the early going of the third set, 5-4, then a kill by Alexa Palmer and an ace by Ellie Connor put the Pack ahead, 8-6. The two teams traded 12 straight side-outs to bring the score to 14-12, but Hollingsworth and Pacini had two straight kills to end that trend, 15-12. Pacini actually had three straight kills to build a little lead, 17-12, then she added another one for good measure, 18-13, to help put Loyola in a position for the sweep. 
 

Wolf Pack Head Coach Jesse Zabal

"We knew William Carey was going to be a tough opponent and we just couldn't get our offense going efficiently enough against them. We have another shot at them at the end of the season and we'll look forward to being healthy and stronger than this go around. I am very proud of the way our team bounced back and competed against Louisiana Christian. We played clean on both offensive and defensive sides and it was great to get a strong win.

"Simone played great defensively in both matches and Katy has been somewhat of a dark horse for us at the service line. She really goes after it and did a great job coming in at the end of the William Carey match and throughout the Louisiana Christian match. The entire team stepped up in the Louisiana Christian match with communication as well, which will be a continued focus of ours." 

Pack Facts

• Loyola's .388 team hitting percentage against Louisiana Christian was the Wolf Pack's best in any match this season. The Pack hit above .300 in each set of the LCU match, including .556 in the final set.

• Amaya Bazemore led all players with 11 kills on a .500 hitting percentage against LCU. 

• Three players had nine kills for Loyola in the LCU match: Clarissa Dupree, Juliana Pacini, and Preslie Boswell.

• Boswell set a new career high for hitting percentage in a match (.692) after finishing with nine kills on just 13 attacks and no errors. 

• Dupree also had nine kills in the William Carey match, a team high. 

• After starting the second set, Katy Hollingsworth was perfect Saturday against LCU, recording kills on all six of her attacks while leading the team with two aces. 

• Ellie Connor set a new collegiate career high in the LCU match, recording 27 total assists at nine assists per set. 

• Simone Moreau averaged over five digs in both matches, with 15 against William Carey and 20 against LCU. 
   

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