NEW ORLEANS – The wins keep piling up in The Den for the Loyola Wolf Pack, and Friday's five-set victory over the Xavier Gold Nuggets marked Loyola's 10th straight win at home. Loyola is now 10-0 in The Den, and it'll host Andrew College (3-20, 2-10 in SSAC) at 12 p.m. on Saturday. 
 

The Wolf Pack volleyball program celebrated five seniors prior to the game: Ellie Connor, Mel Beachnau, Belén Puche Laguna, Tyler Alcorn and Alexa Palmer. 
 

Loyola is now 18-8 overall and 11-2 in Southern States Athletic Conference play. Friday's five-set win gave the Pack two points in the standings, giving them a total of 32 points with three matches left. Mobile is atop the standings with 34 points, and the two teams will meet next week in the regular-season finale on Saturday, Nov. 7. 
 

The Wolf Pack looked sharp in the first set, jumping out to a 6-2 lead behind three kills by Clarissa Dupree. Dupree served back-to-back aces later in the set, 10-4, then Lola Blancher had a couple of aces as well, to help push the advantage to 18-5. Dupree, Alcorn and Palmer all had kills down the stretch, and Olivia Smith served an ace, as Loyola easily closed out XULA in the opening game. 
 

The Gold Nuggets used a late surge to steal Set 2, 25-23, but the Wolf Pack responded by hitting .577 in the third set to win it 25-14. In the fourth set, Loyola almost fought out of an 8-0 early hole, but Xavier forced a fifth set with a 25-21 fourth-set win. The Pack jumped out early in the fifth set to pull ahead of the Gold Nuggets en route to the match win. 
 

Pack Facts

• Belén Puche Laguna recorded her 11th double-double of her career with a career-high 31 assists and a career-high 14 digs. 

• It's the first time a Loyola setter has had more than 30 assists since Rebecca LaCour's 30 on Sept. 20, 2022. 

• Mel Beachnau also had a career-high with 16 kills Friday night. She also tied her career-high dig number with seven in the match. 

• Tyler Alcorn tied her career-high in kills with 12. 

• Joining Beachnau and Alcorn in double-digit kills were Clarissa Dupree (13), Alexa Palmer (12) and Isis Harink (10). 

• Dupree matched her career-high in blocks with five, and Olivia Smith matched her season-high in digs with 14. 

• The Wolf Pack is now 4-4 in five-set matches. They're 12-2 when winning the first set and 9-1 when the match is tied 1-1. 

• Loyola hit .311 as a team, and it's now 4-0 this season when hitting better than .300. 

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