Nov. 8, 2008
Final Stats
CHICAGO - Katie Johnson posted a double-double of 13 kills and 13 digs as Loyola rebounded from a tough loss yesterday with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 30-28) sweep of Butler this afternoon at Alumni Gym. The win moves the Ramblers (18-9, 7-7 Horizon) back to .500 in conference play and sends the Bulldogs to 18-9 (8-7) heading into the final week of the regular season.
"I am so proud of how we bounced back today," said head coach Marcie Wolbeck. "Katie had a nice day both offensively and defensively and I thought both of our middles (Mallory Curran and Natalie Pounovich) also played very well. We showed a lot of fight and a little bit of a killer instinct to be able to close out the match in the third set."
After struggling to string points together yesterday against Valparaiso, Loyola raced out to a 6-1 lead courtesy of five Butler hitting errors and a ball-handling error. Butler managed to pull within three (8-5) before another Loyola run but the set away. Back-to-back aces from Johnson fueled a 7-0 spurt - capped by a Sarah Singer kill - to extend the lead to 15-5 and Butler would get no closer than eight the rest of the way, with Curran closing out a 25-15 win with her fourth kill of the set.
The second set was a set of runs, as Butler raced out to an early 4-1 lead only to see Loyola grab a 6-5 lead following two straight blocks from Curran and Colleen Francis. A Johnson ace gave LU a 12-9 edge but two straight Rambler hitting errors later gave the visitors a 14-13 lead. Two Francis kills and two aces from Lauren Ditscheit helped the Ramblers regain the lead (17-14) and they were able to protect it the rest of the way, using two Butler errors to wrap up a 25-19 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Johnson led the way for Loyola, hammering six kills in the frame, just one less than Butler's team total.
Francis had two kills early in the third set as Loyola jumped out to a 7-3 lead and the sophomore had another kill later to help the Ramblers open a 13-8 advantage. Kills from Singer and Pounovich kept the lead at five (21-16) as Loyola inched closer but Butler managed to battle back, pulling even at 22 on a Porshia Allen kill. Loyola had a match point at 24-23 only to see Allen drill two kills to give Butler a set point at 25-24. The Ramblers managed to stave off two more set points against before Singer gave the Ramblers another match point at 28-27. A Jessica Wolfe kill kept the Bulldogs alive but a BU service error gave the Ramblers another chance and Singer converted, notching her sixth kill of the set to secure the win.
Johnson received support from Singer (nine kills, 11 digs) and Curran (nine kills, five blocks) while Francis (eight kills, seven digs) and Pounovich (career-high seven kills) rounded out Loyola's quintet of hitters.
Loyola wraps up the regular season next weekend with home matches against the two Wisconsin schools, starting with a Friday evening match against Green Bay. First serve from Alumni Gym is scheduled for 5 p.m.
