Sept. 7, 2007
Final Stats
Coral Gables, Fla. - Despite a subpar offensive performance, Loyola had its chances in a 3-0 loss (30-23, 30-25, 30-28) to host Miami in the opening match of the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. The Canes improve to 4-3 on the year while the Ramblers drop to 2-5.
"Even though we struggled at times to get kills, we battled hard but it just was not enough tonight," said head coach Marcie Bomhack. "I thought Mallory (Curran) and Alyse (Serritella) played extremely well but, collectively, we could not get it done."
Loyola was the first team to gain any breathing room in a tight opening game, turning a 10-9 deficit into a 13-10 lead on the heels of a Dana VanDiggelen kill, a Hurricane error and consecutive aces from Lauren Ditscheit. However, Miami roared back to score the next four points and eight of the next nine to open up an 18-14 edge. The Ramblers were able to make a late push, pulling within three at 26-23 on a UM error, but the Canes rattled off the last four to take the game.
The Ramblers shook off the disappointment of game one and raced out to a 6-1 lead in game two on the service of Curran, who fired a pair of aces in the spurt. Two more Miami errors and a solo stuff from Melissa Craig made it a 10-4 LU lead before the Canes reeled off 15 of the next 24 points to pull even at 19. Miami was able to maintain the momentum and play from the lead the rest of the way, although LU did pull within a point (25-24) on a Hurricane error.
Game three was tight throughout and it took a four-point UM run to turn LU's 14-13 lead into a 17-14 deficit. A Curran stuff and two more Miami errors evened things at 17 and the Ramblers were down only one until a critical three-point Miami run, keyed by two kills and a block from Bridgit Bomhack, sister of Loyola's coach Marcie Bomhack. put the Canes in control, 25-21. The Ramblers hung tough and closed to within a pair (27-25) on a UM error and drew within one moments later on another error before Ashley Woods converted Miami's second match point.
Loyola managed only 27 kills as a team for the match but capitalized on 32 Hurricane hitting errors and a stellar defensive effort to keep it close.
Keily Zins led the Rambler offense with eight kills while Curran added seven kills and a team-high five blocks. Serritella keyed the back row effort with 20 digs. Bomhack posted her third consecutive double-double (14 kills, 14 digs) to lead Miami and stymie her older sister.
Loyola wraps up tournament play tomorrow with a pair of matches. The Ramblers start the day by facing undefeated Delaware (8-0) at 9 a.m. before taking on Brown at 5 p.m.
