Volleyball starts season 2-0 in Kentucky Friday

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team is off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2022 with a pair of wins on Friday. First, the Wolf Pack fought off a comeback from the University of Pikeville (Ky.), 3-2, before taking down one of the hosts of the Roar and Raid Invitational, Campbellsville, 3-1. 
 

Loyola will head south to Columbia, Kentucky, on Saturday to play Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and Goshen (Ind.) at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. CDT. 
 

Loyola 3, Pikeville 2 (25-15, 25-23, 20-25, 18-25, 15-9)

The Wolf Pack started fast, racing out to a 6-2 lead in the first set, and never looked back. Alexa Palmer tallied three kills and Belén Puche Laguna served back-to-back aces early in the frame to help get off to a good start. Ivana De Carvalho Peixe and Samantha Guillotte each recorded their first kills of the season, 9-3, then Katy Hollingsworth and Zoe Barnes got in on the action to make it a 15-9 Wolf Pack lead. After Pikeville cut the Loyola lead down to four, the Pack used a 6-0 run late in the game to help secure the 1-0 lead in the match. 
 

The second set was tight throughout, with Loyola trailing 22-20 before closing on a 5-1 run. Kala Emanuelli sparked the comeback with three late service aces, and Isis Harink delivered the set-clinching kill to give the Pack a 2-0 advantage.
 

Pikeville fought back in the third and fourth sets, capitalizing on early runs to even the match at two sets apiece.
 

In the decisive fifth, Loyola fought back from a 3-1 deficit with a 5-1 spurt behind kills from Peixe and Harink and a service ace from Juliet Petruzelli. Harink, Palmer and Peixe also contributed blocks during that run to push Loyola's advantage to 8-4. Lola Blancher served back-to-back aces to make it 13-7, and Zoe Barnes finished off the match with her seventh kill.
 

Loyola 3, Campbellsville 1 (11-25, 25-20, 31-29, 25-14)

After a hard-fought five-set win, Loyola got off to a slow start in the second match of the day. The Tigers came out hot in the opening set, hitting .438 to Loyola's -.069 and jumping out to a 17-5 lead before cruising to the 25-11 win.
 

The Wolf Pack steadied themselves in the second, using two aces and nine kills to build a 17-12 advantage. Seven different players recorded those nine kills, and Puche and Harink notched the two aces. Guillotte had two kills down the stretch, then Blancher and Harink finished things off with an ace and a kill, respectively, to even the match. 
 

The third set turned into a marathon. Loyola built leads of 12-9 and 19-16 before the Tigers surged ahead 22-20. The frame featured 14 ties and six lead changes, but Loyola fought off two set points before Barnes delivered back-to-back kills to set up a set-clinching ace from Emanuelli, 31-29. Peixe and Guillotte came back with two kills each during those extra points, as Puche delivered the assists on all four of those attacks. 
 

Loyola carried the momentum into the fourth, racing to a 13-8 lead thanks to two kills from Harink, Barnes, Guillotte and Palmer. The Wolf Pack hit .457 as a team to close the night with a 25-14 victory.
 

Pack Facts

• Loyola won its first two games of the season for the first time since the fall of 2022. 

• The Wolf Pack's 19 aces against Pikeville were the program's most in a match since August 27, 2016, when the Pack also served 19 aces in a win against SUNO. 

• Kala Emanuelli led the way with six aces in the Pikeville match in addition to seven assists and 24 digs. All three categories were new collegiate career highs for the senior, and she followed up that performance with a match-high 23 digs against Campbellsville.  

• Four other players had multiple service aces in the opener: Belén Puche Laguna (4), Lola Blancher (3), Ellie Connor (3), and Juliet Petruzelli (2). Blancher and Petruzelli each also had two aces in the second match of the day.

• Connor led the team with 24 assists against Pikeville, and that number got her over 1100 assists for her college career and into the top 10 in the Wolf Pack record book. Adding 18 more assists in a double-double against Campbellsville, she's now ninth in Loyola history in career assists. 

• Belén Puche Laguna reached double figures in assists in both matches, with 15 against Pikeville and a team-high 19 against Campbellsville. 

• Alexa Palmer hit double digits in her first match of the season, totalling 11 kills while leading the team with four total blocks. She tallied eight more kills in the second match. 

• After seven kills in the first match, Freshman Zoe Barnes got the start and racked up 12 kills against the Tigers in Friday's second match for a team-best .440 hitting percentage. 

• Samantha Guillotte also collected 12 kills against Campbellsville after seven against Pikeville. Guillotte, Palmer, and Barnes all tied for the team-high in kills across the doubleheader with 19. 

• Newcomers Ivana De Carvalho Peixe (18 kills) and Isis Harink (17 kills) also made a big impact in the Wolf Pack's attack in the season openers

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