Wolf Pack volleyball wins two at Florida College Friday

TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. – The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team bounced back from Thursday's loss by winning two matches at the Florida College Labor Day Classic on Friday. The Wolf Pack dropped just one set on the day, winning a four-setter over the hosts before sweeping Warner University (Fla.). 
 

Loyola will play Park (Ariz.) at 8 a.m. CDT and No. 9 St. Thomas (Fla.) at 10 a.m. CDT on Saturday to close out the weekend. 
 

Loyola 3, Florida College 1 (16-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-14)
The first set was a game of runs, as the two teams exchanged 6-0 scoring sprees before Florida College added another 5-0 run to create the needed separation to go up 1-0 in the match. 
 

It was a block party for Loyola to start the second set. After Isia Harink started things with a kill, Ivana De Carvalho Peixe had two blocks before Zoe Barnes recorded a one to make it a quick 4-1 lead for the Wolf Pack. Peixe and Katy Hollingsworth formed a wall, and Alexa Palmer added another block to give Loyola a 9-5 lead. Palmer continued to find the floor, 12-6, and a good defensive effort by Lola Blancher kept the Pack ahead by six, 14-8, a couple of points later. Clarissa Dupree and Peixe took turns collecting kills, then fittingly, a block by Palmer and Harink ended the game in Loyola's favor.   
 

Loyola kept up its momentum in the next set to help take a 2-1 lead in the match. Barnes, Harink and Juliet Petruzelli all had kills, as well as Petruzelli serving a couple of aces. Another attack by Dupree prompted a quick Florida College timeout with the Wolf Pack leading 7-2. After the Falcons cut the score to 12-9, Peixe had four kills in a short span to extend the advantage to 20-12. Hollingworth found the floor a couple more times, as Loyola held off an FC comeback attempt. 
 

The Pack continued their dominance in the fourth game. Peixe and Barnes had kills in the early going, then another kill from Peixe kept Loyola in front, 8-4. Hollingsworth combined with Palmer for a block and served an ace on back-to-back points, 13-7, and Peixe continued to find the floor with a couple more attacks, 17-11. From there, the Wolf Pack cruised to the four-set victory. 
 

Loyola 3, Warner 0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-18)
Peixe and Harink picked up where they left off from the first match of the day with a couple of quick kills in the opening game, followed by three straight attacks from Dupree to make it a 6-4 lead for the Wolf Pack. Two from Palmer kept Loyola in front, 11-8, then two more from Harink extended the lead even more, 16-9. That was all part of an 11-4 run that saw the Wolf Pack's lead move to 22-12 en route to the first-set win. 
 

The two teams traded a couple of long runs before Warner was able to capture the 12-8 lead. Consecutive kills by Hollingsworth and two kills from Barnes helped tie the game, 14-14, as the latter sparked a quick 6-0 run to put the Pack on top, 18-14. Barnes found the floor again a couple of points later, then Peixe had a block with Hollingsworth and a kill to put set-point in reach. Blancher finished things off with an ace to give Loyola a 2-0 lead in the match. 
 

Loyola began the third set by taking a 6-1 lead, thanks to two kills from Harink and a serving ace by Belén Puche Laguna. The Royals narrowed the gap to two, 9-7, but that would be as close as they would get. The Pack went on a 10-3 run, which featured three straight kills by Barnes at one point, to extend the score to 20-10. Loyola had no problem putting the set away to finish off the sweep.

Pack Facts

• Graduate student Ivana De Carvalho Peixe paced the Wolf Pack offense with 23 kills across the two matches (12 vs. Florida College, 11 vs. Warner), hitting a combined .309 while adding five total blocks. 

• Zoe Barnes was second on the team in kills in the doubleheader, with seven against Florida College and eight more vs. Warner. 

• After 16 assists vs. Florida College, Belén Puche Laguna averaged over eight assists per set against Warner, totaling more assists (25) than the entire Royals team (23). 

• Kala Emanuelli was excellent defensively with nearly 50 digs between the two matches. She matched a career high with 27 digs, nine per set, against Warner, and 22 against Florida College. 

• Lola Blancher (14 digs) also contributed to the back line that produced 73 digs in the Warner match. The team's 73 digs were the most in a three-set match since the Pack recorded 77 digs in a home win against Dillard on September 24, 2015. 

• Alexa Palmer recorded eight kills with five blocks in the Florida College match, adding five blocks. 

• Isis Harink collected nine kills against Warner while hitting .240. 

• Ellie Connor reached double digits in assists in each match, totaling 31 assists in the doubleheader.