NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack made it a perfect weekend with two more sweeps on Saturday, defeating SUNO and Louisiana Christian in two straight-set victories. Loyola is now 5-3 overall after the 4-0 weekend with one more non-conference weekend left on the schedule before Southern States Athletic Conference play begins on Saturday, Sept. 12. 
 

The Wolf Pack will hit the road for the next three weeks, first playing in next week's McPherson College Invitational in McPherson, Kansas. They'll matchup with No. 12 Oklahoma Wesleyan and No. 7 McPherson (Kan.) on Friday, then Central Methodist (Mo.) and Stephens (Mo.) on Saturday. 
 

Game 1: Loyola 3, SUNO 0 (25-19, 25-16, 26-24)

Loyola had five different attackers record a kill through its first 10 points of the opening set, as Isis Harink, Alexa Palmer, Caroline McKinney, Mel Beachnau and Olivia Smith all got on the board to make it a 10-5 Wolf Pack lead. Caroline Beahm made it six a couple of points later, 13-7, and even setter Ellie Connor found the floor after that, 15-9. SUNO won four straight points to cut its deficit to four, 20-16, but Beachnau notched her fourth kill of the set to end that run. The Pack finished the set thanks to an ace and a kill from Smith and a combined block by Beahm and McKinney. 
 

McKinney had three second-set kills by the time Loyola mounted a 10-1 advantage, and Catherine McClain got a kill to make it eight different players with a kill. McKinney added her fourth and fifth attacks, and McClain found the floor on back-to-back points to force a SUNO timeout, 18-8. McKinney finished with seven kills in the game to easily give Loyola a 2-0 lead in the match. 
 

The third set was much closer than the previous two. McKinney stayed hot in the early going with two more, and Smith, Palmer and McClain all also had two kills each to put Loyola ahead by three, 12-9. SUNO tied it at 12, 13 and 16, but back-to-back attacks by the Carolines (Beahm and McKinney) gave the edge to Loyola for good, 19-16. Loyola finished off the match with attacks from McKinney, McClain, Beahm and Smith. 
 

Game 2: Loyola 3, LCU 0 (25-19, 25-11, 25-16)

Harink had two early kills and Lola Blancer served an ace, but LCU still held the 6-4 lead through the set's first 10 points.  Connor had an ace a couple of points later, however, the Wildcats still held leads at 9-8 and 11-10. After that, though, Palmer found the floor twice, Smith once, and Connor had a setter dump to give Loyola four straight points and the lead, 14-11. Palmer had two more kills and Smith and Puche each had an ace down the stretch to pull away with the set. 
 

Harink and McKinney started Set 2 with a couple of kills each, and Puche added another ace to Loyola's total, 7-2. A handful of attacking errors by Louisiana Christian, including a block by Harink and Beachnau, put the Pack up 11-5. McKinney had back-to-back kills at two separate points of the set, with the latter pushing the lead to 22-10. Smith eventually finished the set off with her fourth kill of the match. 
 

Palmer and McKinney got things going in the third set, then two kills by Smith and an ace by Connor gave Loyola a three-point lead, 9-6. Palmer had back-to-back attacks a couple of points later, 11-8, and she added her fourth of the set shortly after that, 15-8. The senior got her team-high 12th kill after Beahm served an ace, 19-9. Harink picked up two more kills after that, as attacks from McClain and Beahm helped cap off the match as well. 
 

Pack Facts

• Caroline McKinney led the team with 14 kills in the first match of the day, which is a season-high. 

• McKinney's .524 hit percentage in the second match was also a season-high. She added 11 more kills on 21 total attempts with no attacking errors in that game against LCU. 

• Catherine McClain made her collegiate debut against SUNO, and she totaled 10 kills on 16 attacks for a .438 hit percentage. 

• Mel Beachnau's .417 hit percentage in the first match was a season-high for the graduate student. 

• Loyola had three setters with double-digit assists against SUNO, as Ellie Connor led the team with 18, followed by 11 each from Belén Puche Laguna and Ava Labat.

• Labat's 11 assists and seven digs in the first match were both season-highs for the freshman. 

• Olivia Smith hit .417 (6 kills, 12 attacks) in the first match for a new season-high. 

• Smith also had double-digit dig totals in both matches on Saturday with 10 in the first match and a team-high 12 in the second. That makes three matches this season with 10 or more digs for the freshman. 

• Ellie Connor led the Wolf Pack in assists in both matches, totaling 18 and 22, respectively. 

• Alexa Palmer tallied 19 kills throughout the two matches, bringing her season total to a team-high 74. She's hitting at an efficient .306 through eight matches this season. 

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