Aug. 28, 2009

Box Score

CHICAGO - Visiting Iowa jumped on Loyola early and the Ramblers never fully recovered, dropping their season opener to the Hawkeyes, 3-0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-19) tonight in the season opener for both teams at the Loyola Invitational.

Iowa surged out to leads of 4-0 and 7-1 in the opening set as Loyola struggled to find its feet. Kills from Dana VanDiggelen and Katie Johnson helped LU stem the tide and back-to-back Johnson kills later pulled the Ramblers within five, 10-5. However, the Hawkeyes reeled off the next eight points to seize command and cruised to a 25-9 win.

An early 5-0 run staked the Hawkeyes to a 7-3 lead in game two but the Ramblers battled back. A block from VanDiggelen and Natalie Pounovich and another Iowa attack error helped LU get within 12-9 and the Ramblers would get within three on a couple other occasions down the stretch, the last at 22-19 on a Ceci Mattei/Pounovich block, but Iowa proved to be too tough, closing out a 25-19 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Loyola regrouped coming out of the intermission and took it to Iowa in the early stages of the third set and took a 10-7 lead after a Mallory Curran/Pounovich stuff. Becky Walters was involved in two straight Hawkeye blocks, helping them pull even at 11, and Iowa gained momentum with a 4-0 run that turned a 13-12 LU lead into a 16-13 Iowa advantage. The lead grew to five (19-14) before VanDiggelen and Curran teamed up at the net to pulled the Ramblers within a pair, 20-18. That would prove to be as close as they would get as blocks from Walters and Megan Schipper accounted for the last two points in a 25-19, match-sealing victory.

Johnson paced Loyola, which hit .000 for the match, with seven kills while Alyse Serritella and Colleen Francis led LU's defense with 10 digs apiece. Schipper had a match-high 10 kills to lead Iowa.