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Colleen Francis' 14 kills led the way as Loyola picked up its first Horizon League win of the year with a sweep of Green Bay

Women's Volleyball

Francis, Johnson Help Loyola Roll Past Green Bay, 3-0

Sept. 19, 2009

Box Score

CHICAGO - Colleen Francis pounded a match-high 14 kills and Katie Johnson added 11 as the Ramblers hit a season-best .358 as a team in a 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-18) win over Green Bay this afternoon at Alumni Gym. The Ramblers push their all-time home record against the Phoenix to 21-1 and improve to 7-7 (1-1 Horizon) on the season. Green Bay slumps to 3-8 (0-1).

"It was great to bounce back from last night and play well to get a win today," said head coach Marcie Wolbeck. "Colleen was terrific tonight and has been so consistent for us all year. Katie also had a good match offensively and, as a team, we served a lot better than we did last night."

The teams were tied eight different times to get to 9-all in the opening set before Loyola was able to open up some breathing room. A Johnson ace gave LU a 14-10 lead and a Francis followed a Lauren Ditscheit ace with a kill to extend the margin to 18-12. The Phoenix was able to hang around and managed to pull within three points on three occasions before a block by Francis and Mallory Curran and another Johnson ace pushed LU to set point, 24-18. Curran supplied the set-clinching kill two points later to give the Ramblers the early lead in the match. Francis had four kills in the frame and Loyola's block was very effective, turning back five Phoenix attacks.

Francis had three kills early in the second set to help LU jump out to a 7-3 lead and the Ramblers would not look back. Two more Francis kills and a GB error pushed the lead to 12-5 but the Phoenix would claw its way back, drawing within 13-10 on a Loyola error. A Curran kill later extended the margin back to four and she served up three more points to give the Ramblers a commanding 19-12 lead and they cruised from there with Dana VanDiggelen closing out the 25-19 set with a kill. Francis drilled six more kills in the set (6-1-8, .625) as LU outhit the Phoenix, .333-.111 in the frame.

The third set was similar to the first, in that the teams were tied nine times en route to 11-all. Again, Loyola was the first team to be able to string some points together, opening a 14-11 lead on consecutive Curran aces. Kills from Johnson and Lauren Ditscheit extended the lead to 19-13 and GB would get no closer than four points the rest of the way with Johnson pounding her 11th kill of the day on match point.

Both Francis and Johnson were remarkably efficient on the offensive end as Francis hit .476 (14-4-21) and Johnson .429 (11-2-21) for the match. As a team, Loyola enjoyed a .358-.106 edge in hitting efficiency and an 8-1 edge in blocks.

Loyola hits the road next week for two matches. The Ramblers step out of Horizon League play for a Thursday night match at Robert Morris (Pa.) before tangling with Youngstown State on Friday night.

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