Nov. 5, 2005
Box Score
CHICAGO - Junior Courtney Ashley had 11 kills and nine digs as a balanced Loyola swept Wright State, 3-0 (30-22, 32-30, 30-23), this afternoon at Alumni Gym. The win is the third in succession for the Ramblers, who improve to 9-16 (7-5 Horizon). Wright State drops to 8-17 (4-9) with the loss.
"I am very pleased with our effort this afternoon," said head coach Marcie Bomhack. "We are playing some of our best volleyball of the season right now and it could not come at a better time. Hopefully we can carry it over into next weekend and through the conference tournament."
Game one was tight in the early stages as the teams traded points all the way to 9-all. After an attack error gave the Ramblers service, Keily Zins served up five more points to give Loyola a 14-9 lead. Consecutive Audrey Davis put-aways later in the game upped the lead to 22-14 and the Raiders would get no closer than six points the rest of the way, with Davis punctuating the win with her third kill. Ashley was the catalyst for the Rambler offense, powering down six kills on a .385 (6-1-13) efficiency, as LU hit .286 as a team.
The second game was a repeat of the opener, except this time it was Ann Deelo's service that the Ramblers scored on, reeling off four consecutive points to give them a 12-7 lead. A Raider error pushed the lead to 17-11 and kills from Zins and Hilary Stromath later gave the Ramblers a seemingly comfortable, 22-15 cushion. However, Wright State roared back, scoring 11 of the next 15 points to forge a 26-all tie, prompting a Loyola timeout. Shelby Henriksen found the floor out of the break, but two Tara Geegan kills and a service ace gave the Raiders two game points and a 29-27 lead. However, hitting errors spoiled both chances and, after Davis gave LU a 31-30 lead, another error gave Loyola the game and a 2-0 lead heading to intermission.
Game three followed form, as a 4-0 LU run, capped by three straight Davis kills, gave the home team an early 9-6 advantage. Wright State battled back and drew even at 12 before Loyola was able to regain the lead. An Ashley kill followed by a service ace helped the Ramblers opened up a 21-15 bulge and they were able to cruise from there and Elmer capped off the Ramblers' second sweep in as many days with an ace.
In addition to Ashley, Loyola had four other players with at least nine kills. Davis reached double figures with 10 put-aways while Henriksen, Stromath and Zins added nine apiece. Ann Deelo recorded a match-high 19 digs from her libero spot while Elmer had 45 assists and 16 digs. Sarah Poling paced Wright State with 14 kills and 11 digs.
Loyola wraps up the regular season with a pair of home matches next weekend. The Ramblers open with Youngstown State on Friday night (Nov. 11) at 7 p.m. before hosting Cleveland State for Senior Day on Saturday afternoon.
