Volleyball begins SSAC play Friday

BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team opened up Southern States Athletic Conference play on Friday with a four-set loss to the defending league champions, Blue Mountain Chrisitan. Next up for the Wolf Pack is a road trip to Pulaski, Tennessee, tomorrow to take on another SSAC opponent, Tennessee Southern. 
 

After Loyola lost the first set, back-to-back kills by Preslie Boswell and Clarissa Dupree in the second made it a 4-3 lead for the Wolf Pack, then a couple of BMCU errors made the score 6-4. Loyola made it a three-point lead 9-6 after Natalie Burkholder and Alexa Palmer combined for a block, and a Simone Moreau ace kept it at that margin,11-8, a couple of points later. Blue Mountain tied the score a couple of times before the Pack extended their lead back out to three, 21-18, but again, BMCU tied it at 23-all. Emma Fahy fought off a Blue Mountain set-point to tie it again, 25-25, but the Toppers won the next two points to take a 2-0 lead in the match. 
 

A couple of errors by the Toppers helped give Loyola the early momentum, 2-1, in the third set and Amaya Bazemore found the floor twice to make it an early 7-4 lead. Consecutive attacks by Burkholder and Palmer kept the Pack ahead by four, 9-5, then Dupree got in on the action to stop back-to-back points for the Toppers, 10-7. Samantha Guillotte found an open spot on the BMCU's side of the floor to give Loyola its largest lead, 14-9, and Kala Emanuelli made it a six-point lead, 15-9, with a service ace. After the Toppers cut it to three, 17-14, Loyola outscored the hosts 8-5 down the stretch to claim the set. Burkholder, Dupree, Palmer, Guillotte and Amaya Bazemore all collected kills down the stretch. 
 

Loyola trailed 9-5 early in the fourth set, but an attack by Burkholder allowed Loyola to battle back to tie it at 10-10. Gabriella Masiello dumped a set over the net, 9-7, and Guillotte and Bazemore had two kills in three points to nod the score. Loyola tied it, 14-14, after an ace by Masiello, but the Toppers regained the lead on the next point and pushed ahead to finish off the match. 
 

Wolf Pack Head Coach Jesse Zabal

"I'm very proud of the persistence and fight that we saw from our team tonight. We've grown so much from day one and had even more growth tonight. We saw some strong performances from Simone and Clarissa, and Emma did a great job coming off the bench and sparking a few positive moments for us. This rivalry between us and Blue Mountain always motivates us and while our next focus is Tennessee Southern tomorrow, we already look forward to competing with Blue Mountain again down the road." 
 

Pack Facts

• Clarissa Dupree had 10 kills to lead the team on Friday. Amaya Bazemore was right behind her with nine, while Alexa Palmer posted five kills in her return to the court. 

• Defensively, Bazemore's six blocks also led the team, while Simone Moreau's 16 digs were a match high. 

• Ellie Connor's 24 assists against BMCU were tied for her most of the season. She also finished with a career-high 13 digs for her sixth double-double at Loyola. 

• Gabriella Masiello also posted a double-double, her third of the year, with 17 assists and 10 digs. 

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