Volleyball defeats William Carey on Halloween Friday

NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team returned to action on Friday, hosting SSAC opponent William Carey on Friday in The Den for its final home match of the season. The Wolf Pack (22-8, 10-4 in SSAC) defended The Den for the final time this season against William Carey (18-12, 9-5 in SSAC), defeating the conference rival in straight sets on Halloween night to take command of the SSAC's No. 2 spot in the standings.
 

The No. 2-ranked Wolf Pack will close out the regular season next weekend, when Loyola plays a two-game road trip, starting with a match at Brewton-Parker Christian (Ga.) on Friday, at 5 p.m. The team's final match before the SSAC Championship will be on Saturday at Life (Ga.).
 

The Crusaders started Friday's match with a lead, 3-1, but kills by Samantha Guillotte and Isis Harink, assisted by Belén Puche Laguna, helped tie the match, 4-4. After another Harink kill tied it again, 5-5, back-to-back WCU errors and an ace from the Tubbergen, Netherlands, native put the Pack ahead by three, 8-5. Carey trailed closely in the following points, but a pair of kills by Clarissa Dupree, and one each from Alexa Palmer and Guillotte kept the three-point advantage intact, 12-9. Then, back-to-back aces by senior Kala Emanuelli forced a timeout for the visitors, 14-9.
 

After the timeout, another assist from Ellie Connor to Palmer, then a kill by Harink made the lead seven, 16-9. A Harink block and kills from Guillotte, Lily Clemmer-Gillum, and Clarissa Dupree caused Carey to use its final timeout of the set, 21-12. An ace from Juliet Petruzelli and another kill from Clemmer-Gillum added two to the Pack's total, 23-13. Two more Wolf Pack points closed the first set from there, 25-16.
 

William Carey began the second set with a lead, with the Wolf Pack following closely behind. After Carey went up by a pair, 8-6, Guillotte found the floor, then Emanuelli served another ace to tie it, 8-8. After a Carey error tied it again, 10-10, an ace from Puche Laguna gave Loyola its first edge of the set, 11-10. 
 

Once again, the Crusaders led by two, then a Guillotte kill, a Petruzelli ace, and a Harink kill created another one-point lead for the Pack, 14-13. After three more ties, the Wolf Pack broke away after a Carey attack error and another kill from Guillotte, 18-16. Over the final points of set two, Palmer and Guillotte each earned a pair of kills, while Katy Hollingsworth and Harink each found the floor, closing the frame on a 10-2 run, 25-18.
 

The visitors took charge in the early going of the third set. After the Pack tied it at 6-6, kills by Dupree and Clemmer-Gillum put Loyola in front by two, 9-7. After a 10-9 for the Crusaders, five straight Wolf Pack points, including kills from Dupree, Hollingsworth, Palmer, and a Connor ace, completed the run, 14-10. The Pack held on to its lead for the next several points before the Crusaders forced a tie, 18-18.
 

After the timeout, Guillotte and Dupree collected two more kills, then Petruzelli served her third ace of the night to force a timeout by Carey, 21-18. A bad set by the visitors added another to the Pack's total, 22-18. After WCU got within two, kills by Dupree and Hollingsworth ended the match, 25-21.
 

Pack Facts

• Alexa Palmer turned in one of her best collegiate attacking performances on Friday with 12 kills in just 23 attempts with no errors (.522).

• Samantha Guillote followed her career-high 13 kills in the last match with 11 on Friday, which is tied for her most in a three-set match. 

• Ellie Connor continued her stellar play with nearly a double-double, 19 assists and nine digs plus an ace. 

• Belén Puche Laguna also played well with 16 assists and eight digs, plus two aces. She moves into eighth place in the Wolf Pack record book in service aces with 71 this season. 

• Lola Blancher led all players with 13 digs. Kala Emanuelli also was in double figures with 11, plus five assists and three aces. 

• Emanuelli moved into the top 10 in season digs at Loyola with 516 for her career.

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