Oct. 11, 2009
Box Score
CHICAGO - Colleen Francis had 17 kills and Mallory Curran added a season-high 13 as Loyola held off Butler to snatch a 3-2 (25-21, 16-25, 25-20, 11-25, 15-9) win this afternoon at Alumni Gym. The loss snaps the Ramblers' three-match losing streak and boosts their record to 10-11, 3-5 Horizon. Butler, which suffered its second loss this weekend in the Windy City, drops to 15-9, 5-3.
"What a great team win today," said head coach Marcie Wolbeck. "We started to play better towards the end of the match yesterday and it was great to carry over a high level of play into the match today. With all the parity in the League this year, if we can keep playing like this we can make a move up the standings in the second half."
After spotting the Bulldogs the opening point in the fifth set, the Ramblers took control by rattling off the next seven in succession. Francis had a pair of kills to highlight the spurt but two Jessica Wolfe kills helped Butler score the next four, to get within two at 7-5. Loyola saw its lead reduced to one on two different occasions before a Natalie Pounovich kill and a big block from Pounovich and Johnson prompted a Butler timeout at 11-8. After a Porshia Allen kill made it 11-9, LU was able to close it out, with kills from Johnson and Lauren Ditscheit following two BU hitting errors to account for the final four points.
After getting off to a sluggish start yesterday against Valpo, Loyola came out with passion and energy today. Trailing 6-4, the Ramblers took control of the opening set with a 12-1 scoring run to open a sizeable 16-7 advantage. Francis and Dana VanDiggelen each had two kills in the run, the majority of which came on the service of Ditscheit, as Loyola began to click. A Ditscheit kill later pushed the lead to 20-9 and a Francis kill later got LU a step closer at 23-13. Butler was able to make a big push at the end, drawing within three at 24-21, but the hill proved to be too big to climb, as an error gave the Ramblers the opening set.
The second set was close in the opening stages and a Francis kill pulled LU within one at 11-10. However, Butler was able to slowly pull away and a Wolfe kill closed out the set as the Bulldogs pulled even in the match.
The third set was the most competitive of the match and a four-point run, capped by a Curran/Johnson block, gave Loyola an early 12-9 lead. The Ramblers were able to play from in front through the middle stages of the frame and Pounovich had two kills in a key 4-0 spurt that extended the lead to 19-14. Butler was able to get as close as two but Curran was not to be denied, hammering two kills down the stretch as LU took control of the match with a 25-20 win. Curran was superb in the set, hammering down eight kills in the frame alone as LU hit .424 as a team.
Butler was able to regroup and, with its back to the wall, controlled the fourth set from the start, scoring 10 of the first 11 points and cruising to a 25-11 win to set the table for the fifth set.
Francis was steady throughout, finishing with 17 kills and 14 digs to lead the Ramblers. Curran finished with 13 kills and Johnson joined them in double figures, recording a double-double of 12 kills and 13 digs.
Loyola opens the second half of the Horizon League season on the road next week, starting with a Friday night tilt at Green Bay.
