Sept. 13, 2008
Final Stats
DeKalb, Ill. - Towson scored seven of the last 10 points of the match as Loyola squandered a two sets to one lead in an eventual 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-11) loss to the Tigers in the finale of the NIU Invitational in DeKalb, Ill. Senior Sarah Singer and junior Lauren Ditscheit were named to the all-tournament team for the Ramblers, who drop to 9-2 on the year.
"It is frustrating that we could not close it out tonight," said head coach Marcie Wolbeck. "It was just one of those nights where we made some errors at very inopportune times and it cost us."
After splitting four extremely tight sets, the teams battled back and forth in the decisive fifth frame. A Singer kill pulled Loyola into an 8-all tie - the fifth tie of the set - before a Towson kill and Loyola hitting error gave the Tigers a 10-8 lead. Mindy Rees came up with a kill to pull the Ramblers back within a point but Towson responded by scoring the next two tallies to open up a three-point advantage. A service error gave LU the ball down 12-10 but the Ramblers gave it right back with a service error of their own and Alysha Fanning eventually capped a 15-11 win that gave the Tigers the match.
Two Dana VanDiggelen kills helped Loyola open up a 6-1 lead in the opening set but Towson would recover. The Ramblers still held a 13-9 lead after a Mallory Curran ace but the Tigers rallied and eventually pulled even at 14 on an ace of their own. Loyola got to the magical 20-point mark first on a tandem stuff from Curran and Rees and Katie Johnson followed it up with an ace to give LU a 21-17 lead. However, a Rambler error helped Towson draw even at 22 and a Colleen Francis kill on the next play gave Loyola its final lead as Towson rattled off the final three points to take the opening set.
Kills from Curran and Singer helped Loyola turn an early 10-9 deficit into a 13-10 lead in the second set. After Towson pulled even at 14-all, a 5-1 Loyola spurt gave the Ramblers a seemingly comfortable 19-15 lead. The Tigers had one more rally left in them, pulling even at 22 before a Curran kill and consecutive Towson errors ended the set and evened the match.
Tied at 10 in the third set, two kills from Johnson and Singer helped LU snatch a 15-12 lead. The teams essentially alternated points until LU strung three winning rallies together to extend to a 22-17 lead but the Ramblers could not put Towson away. A Fanning ace later forged a 23-all tie but Loyola was able to recover and put the set away on its second set point, courtesy of a stuff from Francis and VanDiggelen.
The teams were tied 12 times en route to 17-17 in the fourth set before Towson was able to gain the upper hand to force the fifth set.
