News Releases

Northern Illinois Knocks Off Loyola, 3-0

9/21/2004

Ramblers see eight-match winning streak snapped by Huskies

CHICAGO (SEPTEMBER 21, 2004) - Host Loyola (8-4) saw its eight-match winning streak snapped tonight as Northern Illinois (4-8) surprised the Ramblers, 3-0 (30-28, 30-28, 30-27), in three competitive games at Alumni Gym.

Loyola came out sluggish from the opening serve and the Huskies jumped out to an early 7-3 lead. The Ramblers began to chip away and pulled even at 10 on a Nichol Amberg (Tulsa, Okla.) kill. The teams traded points to 14-14 and were tied at 21 before freshman Keily Zins (Barrington, Ill.) capped a 4-0 Rambler spurt with a kill to give LU a 24-21 advantage. Northern Illinois answered with four straight points to reclaim the lead before a Marie Zidek kill gave NIU a 29-27 lead and they were able to side out for the win. Northern pounded away at a sizzling .386 clip in the opening frame compared to .239 for Loyola.

Game two was all Loyola at the outset as a pair of Zins kills helped LU open an early 7-2 lead. However, NIU would respond and get right back into the game, eventually evening the game at 9. An Amberg kill finally gave Loyola some breathing room at 23-20 before Zidek served up six consecutive points, three coming on LU attack errors, to give the Huskies a 26-23 lead. They extended to 29-24 before Loyola regained service and Katie Prechel (Oak Park, Ill.) promptly fired an ace as part of a run that saw LU close within 29-28 before a service error gave the Huskies the game and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Game three was more of the same as Loyola struggled to put a serious run together. After a Rambler service error gave NIU service with an 18-17 lead, three consecutive LU hitting errors boosted the Northern lead to 21-17. The lead would grow to 29-23 on a Tera Lobdell service ace before Loyola would make a late charge, scoring four straight points to close to 29-27. However, just like game two, a service error on game point would prove to be the difference as a net serve gave the Huskies the game and the match.

Northern turned in a terrific offensive performance, hitting a sterling .279 for the match with only 15 errors. Loyola hit .211 and actually outkilled NIU, 55-54, but were done in by 25 errors.

Sophomore Courtney Ashley (Naperville, Ill.) had 13 kills to lead the Ramblers, who also got 10 kills from Kathryn Langheld (Mokena, Ill.). Setter Lauren Holbrook (Indianapolis, Ind.) pitched in with six kills, 10 digs and 41 assists while libero Ann Deelo (St. Louis, Mo.) posted a match-high 21 digs, her fourth 20+ dig match of the season. Northern Illinois' one-two punch of Kate McCullagh and Lobdell and was terrific, posting 17 and 16 kills, respectively.

Loyola returns to action this weekend, opening Horizon League play with a pair of home matches. The Ramblers host Cleveland State on Friday night (7 p.m.) before entertaining Youngstown State on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m.).