Volleyball wins program’s first SSAC tournament title

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball program has been searching for its first SSAC Championship title for a few years now, and the Wolf Pack finally broke through Saturday afternoon when it defeated the University of Mobile. After winning its first-ever regular-season title in 2021, Loyola has now claimed the program's first tournament championship with a four-set win in Montgomery, Alabama. 
 

Loyola won the first, third and fourth sets in dominant fashion, claiming set wins of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-14. 
 

The Wolf Pack (29-8) earned an automatic qualifier into the NAIA Volleyball National Championship tournament, and they'll find out their Opening Round matchup during the NAIA's Selection Show at 4 p.m. on Monday. 
 

The first set started as one would expect between the two best teams in the conference. Clarissa Dupree, Alexa Palmer and Isis Harink all had kills in the early points, as the game was tied at 1, 2, 4 and 5. When Loyola got the set tied at 5-all, that was the start of a 10-0 run that saw its lead push out to 14-5. Harink had two blocks and a kill, Samantha Guillotte contributed a kill and a block, and Ivana De Carvalho Peixe added back-to-back kills to help take control of the opening set. Mobile won a couple of points, but three straight service aces by Ellie Connor made it a 19-7 advantage. Two kills each by Dupree and Palmer closed out the first-set win for the Wolf Pack. 
 

After Mobile won the second set to even the match, Dupree got Loyola off to a good start in the third set with three early kills, 6-3. Zoe Barnes and Connor both served aces after that, 10-5, and Palmer and Katy Hollingsworth both contributed a kill and a block to maintain the lead, 13-8. Mobile trimmed the score down to three, but three consecutive attacks by Dupree, Harink and Guillotte pushed it back out to a six-point lead, 17-11. Guillotte had three more kills, including the set-clincher, to put Loyola back in the lead, 2-1. 
 

The Wolf Pack left little doubt in the fourth set. Palmer notched two early kills to get the scoring going for Loyola, 3-1, and an attack by Connor started an 8-0 run, 11-2. Belén Puche Laguna served three aces during that run, too. Three kills by Peixe extended the score to 15-5, and Kala Emanuelli had two aces, 22-7, to give Loyola 14 for the match. From there, it was only a matter of time before the Wolf Pack had the championship-clinching point, and it was Peixe who landed the final point for Loyola. 
 

Pack Facts

• In addition to the program's first SSAC tournament title, Loyola's 29 wins this season are also the second-most in any season in program history. 

• With the win, Loyola has qualified for the NAIA National Championship for the fourth time in program history (2001, 2002, 2023). 

• Clarissa Dupree racked up double-digit kills in all five tournament matches, closing with 13 kills and only two errors in the title match to finish with 63 total kills on a .293 percentage in the tournament 

• Alexa Palmer also collected 13 kills in the final and had 63 total kills for the tournament while hitting .304 overall. The junior now leads the team in total kills this season with 308 while hitting a career-best .272 for the year. 

• Isis Harink also reached 300 kills on the season after six kills in the final, adding five blocks as well, while Katy Hollingsworth led the team in blocks in the final with six. 

• Samantha Guillotte finished out a stellar tournament with 12 kills against the Rams, giving her a team-high 72 kills for the entire tournament. A late-season surge has Guillotte's kills per set up to a team-best 2.5 heading into the national tournament. 

• Ivana De Carvalho Peixe, had double-digit kills in the semifinal and final, putting the finishing touches on the championship with her 10th kill. She also had five blocks in the match. 

• Loyola's two setters nearly put up identical stat lines, with Ellie Connor leading the match at 23 assists while Belén Puche Laguna had 21. Both setters logged four service aces in the final. 

• Kala Emanuelli led the team with 18 digs, adding four assists and three aces as well.

• Lola Blancher logged double-digit digs in both the final and semifinal with 10 in each match. 

• Puche is back on top of the NAIA with 86 total service aces this season, a number that is tied for the fourth-most by a player in any season in Wolf Pack history and is the eighth-most in a season in the history of the SSAC.

• Emanuelli is also in the top five in service aces in the NAIA, totaling 72 after today's match. That's tied for the eighth-most in a season in program history. Additionally, the senior libero's 651 digs rank as the sixth-most in a season in program history. 

SSAC Championship Schedule

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

Day 1 | Nov. 13
9:00 | Court 1 | No. 1 Mobile def. No. 5 UT Southern, 3-1
9:00 | Court 2 | No. 2 Loyola def. No. 6 Point, 3-2
11:30 | Court 1 | No. 4 Blue Mountain def. No. 8 Faulkner, 3-0
11:30 | Court 2 | No. 3 William Carey def. No. 7 Life, 3-0
2:00 | Court 1 | No. 5 UT Southern def. No. 8 Faulkner, 3-0
2:00 | Court 2 | No. 6 Point def. No. 7 Life, 3-0
4:30 | Court 1 | No. 1 Mobile def. No. 4 Blue Mountain, 3-1
4:30 | Court 2 | No. 2 Loyola def. No. 3 William Carey, 3-1

Day 2 | Nov. 14
11:00 | Court 1 | No. 1 Mobile def. No. 8 Faulkner, 3-1
11:00 | Court 2 | No. 2 Loyola def. No. 7 Life, 3-0
1:30 | Court 1 | No. 4 Blue Mountain def. No. 5 UT Southern, 3-1
1:30 | Court 2 | No. 6 Point def. No. 3 William Carey, 3-1
5:30 | Court 1 | Semifinal | Mobile def. Point, 3-0
5:30 | Court 2 | Semifinal | Loyola def. Blue Mountain, 3-2

Day 3 | Nov. 15
2:00 | Court 1 | Loyola def. Mobile, 3-1