HATTIESBURG, Miss.  – After a series of five-set matches in the last two weeks, the Loyola Wolf Pack earned a quick and efficient Southern States Athletic Conference win Saturday afternoon, sweeping the William Carey Crusaders with a final score of 25-19, 25-23, 25-18.

Loyola (9-7, 2-1 SSAC) will return home for the first time in almost a month to play two matches in The Den next week. The Pack will take on Blue Mountain Christian on Friday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. Then, Loyola will host Tennessee Southern on Saturday at 1 p.m. 

Clarissa Dupree put down the first point of the match on a kill, but a few Wolf Pack errors led to a 3-2 start for the Crusaders. After that, Loyola seized control with a 6-1 run, featuring kills by Isis Harink and Olivia Smith as well as three straight kills by Tyler Alcorn to pull ahead 8-4. Loyola hit over .300 for the set while getting five kills from Dupree, four from Alcorn, and four from Harink, as the Pack won the first set 25-19. 

The second set began with three straight William Carey kills, but Loyola quickly answered with four consecutive points to take the lead after kills from Alexa Palmer and Caroline McKinney plus a block from Dupree and Harink. Carey countered with their own 4-0 run, but then McKinney scored back-to-back kills to tie things at 8-8. The teams then traded points through ties at 10-10, 11-11, 13-13, and 15-15 before Loyola tallied five straight points to get some breathing room. The Crusaders gradually got back into the set, trailing by just one point at 24-23, but Alcorn found the floor again to finish the set at 25-23. 

The Crusaders had another good start in the third set, holding a 7-4 early advantage. Loyola again answered, going on a 5-0 run capped off by an ace from Belén Puche Laguna to take a 9-7 lead. The Wolf Pack continued to build on that lead, with three kills from Alexa Palmer and several errors from William Carey pushing the score to 20-12, which prompted the final Crusader timeout. The home team gained some ground after the break, getting within four points at 22-18, but Loyola had kills from Alcorn and Dupree followed by timely aces from Smith to close out the set at 25-18 and secure the match win for the Pack. 

Pack Facts

• Loyola's attackers combined to hit .272 for the match, its best hitting percentage since August. 

• Caroline McKinney followed up her 14 kills on Friday with nine kills in just 17 swings, and her hitting percentage of .529 was her highest of the year. 

• Tyler Alcorn also had nine kills against the Crusaders, hitting .333 while adding three digs and two blocks. 

• Clarissa Dupree contributed on both sides of the ball, finishing with eight digs for the second match in a row plus seven kills on a .267 percentage. 

• Belén Puche Laguna and Ellie Connor each totaled 16 assists for the match, with Connor also recording 11 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. 

• Connor also moved up in the Wolf Pack record book and is now eighth in career assists at Loyola with 2,053. 

• Lola Blancher's 18 digs were a team high. She's had at least 18 digs in seven straight matches. 

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