Volleyball opens home schedule by splitting a pair of matches Friday

NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team split a pair of matches in The Den on Friday, defeating Science and Arts (Okla.) in three sets before losing a five-setter to IU South Bend in the nightcap. 
 

The Wolf Pack Welcome continues on Saturday with five more matches in The Den. Loyola will take on Florida Memorial at 1 p.m. and Xavier at 5 p.m., but the first match of the day begins at 9 a.m. 
 

Fans can purchase tickets here or watch all five contests for free at UrbanEdgeNetwork.net. 
 

Loyola 3, Science & Arts 0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-13)
The beginning of the first set went back and forth, as Loyola grabbed a quick 3-0 lead after a couple of kills by Isis Harink and Alexa Palmer. The Droves pushed ahead 9-6 after that, but the Wolf Pack set the tone for the rest of the match by pushing ahead 21-14. Katy Hollingsworth's serve helped build a 14-10 advantage, then Belén Puche Laguna also served an ace to extend the score to 18-11. Harink, Hollingsworth, and Palmer each had another attack on Loyola's way to a 25-17 opening set win. 
 

Once again, Set 2 was tightly contested until midway through when Loyola broke an 8-8 tie with a 7-1 run fueled by three Palmer kills. Harink and Palmer took turns finding the floor, and Puche Laguna tallied two more aces, 22-16. Harink and Palmer, again, went back-to-back to close the set to give Loyola a 2-0 lead in the match. 
 

After another tightly contested start to a set, the third set was even more dominant for Loyola, eventually turning a 4-4 tie into a 19-8 lead. Samantha Guillotte and Ivana De Carvalho Peixe got in on the action with a few kills, and Puche Laguna continued to serve aces, eventually reaching her team-high six for the match with two more in the final game. Kala Emanuelli and Ellie Connor also proved strong at the service line to seal the sweep with a 25-13 third-set win. 
 

IU South Bend 3, Loyola 2 (25-20, 25-22, 13-25, 16-25, 15-13)
The Pack came out of the gates hot in the third set after falling behind 2-0 in the match, jumping out to a 12-2 lead quickly. Harink and Peixe each picked up kills, and Emanuelli, Puche Laguna and Juliet Petruzelli all had aces during that opening stretch. Loyola continued to dominate the set with Dupree and Guillotte combining for five more kills, then Peixe finished things off with Loyola's 13th kill of the set. 
 

The momentum carried over into the fourth set with another nice start, 13-2. Palmer and Guillotte both found open spots in the Titans' defense, and the hot serving from Emanuelli, Puche Laguna and Petruzelli continued. After IU South Bend won seven straight, 14-10, Loyola had to fight off more comeback attempts before evening the match at 2-2. Leading by three, 16-13, Harink, Palmer, Hollingsworth and Peixe all had kills down the stretch, then Ellie Connor finished things off with Loyola's 14th ace. 
 

The Titans started strong in the match's final set, 4-1, eventually taking a 9-4 lead. IU South Bend landed four of its 11 attacks during that time, while Loyola had four attacking errors. Trailing 13-9, Harink and Palmer combined for a block and Palmer and Hollingsworth teamed up for another one a couple of points later to trim the deficit to one, 14-13. IUSB would eventually get the match-clinching point, though. 
 

Pack Facts

• Belén Puche Laguna notched her second double-double of the season against IU South Bend with 23 assists and 12 digs, plus four aces. She added 19 assists and six aces in the first match of the day and has served 19 aces so far this season. 

• Isis Harink totaled 23 kills on the day, 12 in the first match and 11 in the second, hitting .419 for the day. 

• After 16 digs in the first match, Kala Emanuelli collected 27 digs in the second, plus five total aces. 

• Samantha Guillotte totaled 17 kills between the two matches, reaching double digits for the fourth time this season in the IUSB match with 10 kills. 

• Alexa Palmer logged 11 kills in 18 attempts with no errors, hitting .611 against USAO. She also totaled eight blocks on Friday, leading the team in that category. 

• As a team, Loyola hit .322 against USAO, the team's highest hitting percentage of the season. 

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