NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team played its sixth five-setter of the season Saturday in the Southern States Athletic Conference opener against crosstown rival Xavier. The Wolf Pack took the first two sets at the Convocation Center, but the Gold Nuggets rallied to win the next three and take the match.

Loyola (7-7, 0-1 SSAC) will continue conference play next week with two road matches against the teams ranked second and third in the SSAC Preseason Poll, Mobile and William Carey. Loyola will face Mobile at the Rams' Pharr Gymnasium on Friday, Sept. 18, at 6 p.m. in the teams' first matchup since last year's SSAC Championship final.

Clarissa Dupree started the match with a kill, one of her four kills in the opening set, as the Wolf Pack took an early 2-0 lead. The teams were then tied at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, and 5-5 before Xavier took its first lead at 6-5. Loyola then went back in front 8-6 with a kill from McKinney and two errors from the Gold Nuggets and never trailed for the remainder of the set. Xavier was still within one point as late as 21-20, but the Wolf Pack scored four straight points to end the first set, as Alexa Palmer put down her second kill, Belén Puche Laguna served back-to-back aces, and Xavier hit a ball out for the final point. 

Dupree again had the first point in the second set, and two Tyler Alcorn kills plus two Xavier errors gave Loyola an early 5-2 lead. Xavier climbed back to 14-13 and held control for much of the frame, needing just two points to win the set at 23-21.  Then, a Gold Nugget service error followed by a kill from Alcorn tied the set at 23-23 and forced Xavier to take its first timeout. Alcorn found the floor again out of the first timeout to give Loyola a 24-23 lead, causing Xavier to quickly use its second timeout. After that break, Lola Blancher served an ace to capture the set for the Wolf Pack. 

The teams played close to start the third set, with Loyola getting two straight kills from Isis Harink and another from McKinney to make it a 12-8 game. Shortly after, Loyola went on a 5-0 scoring run, featuring two more kills and a block from Harink, to seemingly take control of the set at 17-10. Xavier came back, however, eventually tying the score at 23-23 and later winning the set 26-24. 

Xavier carried momentum into the next set, winning five of the first six points in the fourth frame. The Gold Nugget lead would grow to as much as 10-4 before Loyola began to make up ground. McKinney, Olivia Smith, and Alcorn combined for three straight kills to tie the score at 13-13, then Isis Harink had two straight blocks with Smith and Alcorn to put the Pack up 15-13. Xavier quickly responded, however, going on a 10-1 scoring run to all but put away the set. The Gold Nuggets would go on to win 25-19 and force a fifth. 

The Gold Nuggets again played well to open the fifth set. Mel Beachnau recorded her first kill of the match and Harink added another as Loyola and Xavier opened the set tied 2-2. Xavier then scored five straight points to take a 7-2 lead, and Loyola was unable to fully close the gap after that point, as the set went 15-12 to the Gold Nuggets. 

Pack Facts

• Ellie Connor finished the match with 24 assists and now has 2,015 in her collegiate career. She is the ninth Wolf Pack volleyball player in program history to reach the 2,000-assist mark. 

• Isis Harink recorded the first double-double of her career with 14 kills and a career-high 10 blocks against Xavier. 

• This was also the first time a Loyola player totaled 10 blocks in a match since Amaya Bazemore had 10 against UT Southern in the first match of the SSAC Championship on Nov. 14, 2024. 

• Tyler Alcorn hit double figures in kills for the second straight match, finishing with 11. 

• Belén Puche Laguna led the team with 27 assists, her second-highest total in a match this season. 

• Defensively, Lola Blancher led the team with 19 digs, while Olivia Smith logged a new career high with 13 digs. Blancher also led the team with three aces. 

Subscribe to Pack Tracks, a Loyola Athletics Newsletter, for all of the latest information >> https://loyolawolfpack.com/subscribe.aspx. You can also keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.