Volleyball sweeps BPC Friday

NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack made quick work of the Brewton-Parker Christian Barons in The Den on Friday, earning the straight-sets (25-20, 25-18, 25-15) SSAC win to improve their record to 12-5 overall and 3-1 in the league. The Pack will continue Southern States Athletic Conference play at home against Life University (Ga.) at 1 p.m. on Saturday. 
 

Loyola had to fight out of an early 7-3 hole, but battled back to tie it at 9-all. A combination of Isis Harink and Samantha Guillotte fought off the Barons, 15-13, but a quick 4-0 run for the visitors put them back on top, 18-16. The two teams traded a couple of points until a kill by Alexa Palmer put Katy Hollingsworth on the service line. The senior recorded an ace, and Dupree added a couple more kills to her total to help the Pack win the final six points. 
 

It was Loyola's turn to get off to a good start in the second game, quickly taking a 9-2 lead behind attacks from Guillotte, Harink, and Ivana de Carvalho Peixe, as well as aces by Belén Puche Laguna and Lola Blancher. Unlike the Barons in the first set, the Wolf Pack didn't let their foot off the gas on their way to a 25-18 set win. Juliet Petruzelli and Hollingsworth each recorded aces to make it a 16-6 lead, then Puche added another one a couple of points later, 19-8. BPCU wasn't much of a threat after that. 
 

The third set was tight in the early going until Loyola won five of six points to stretch its lead to 11-6. Puche had a couple of aces during the first few points of the game, and kills by Harink and Hollingsworth, along with a handful of BPCU errors, kept Loyola ahead. Puche had another ace, 17-11, and Clarissa Dupree found the floor a couple more times, 19-13. Kala Emanuelli added two more aces to help close the match, which brought Loyola up to 12 for the match.

Pack Facts

• Belén Puche Laguna eclipsed 50 season service aces with five on Friday, totaling 52 on the season. Puche Laguna also had a team-leading 13 assists.

• The Wolf Pack's 13 service aces were the team's third-most in a match this season, and it was the team's ninth time this season reaching double digits in the ace category.

• Multiple players recorded at least two aces: Juliet Petruzelli had three, Kala Emanuelli and Katy Hollingsworth each had two, and Lola Blancher had one. 

• Loyola's win over Brewton-Parker is its 27th straight victory over the Barons, going back to their first meeting in 2001. Loyola has swept each matchup since 2015.

• Blancher and Emanuelli tied for the team high with seven digs apiece in Friday's match. 

• Loyola hit .246 for the match, with Isis Harink's seven kills on .545 hitting leading the attack.

• Samantha Guillotte was second on the team with six kills and just one error, hitting .294 for the match. 

• Clarissa Dupree logged her second consecutive match with no errors while hitting above .300, finishing with four kills at a .333 clip.