Sept. 25, 2009

Box Score

Youngstown, Ohio - Colleen Francis posted another double-double with 16 kills and 15 digs but Loyola could not contain Youngstown State's offense in a 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-22) loss to the Penguins tonight at the Beeghly Center. The Ramblers slip back to the .500 mark (8-8, 1-2 Horizon) while Youngstown State improves to 3-10 (1-2).

The Penguins jumped out to an early 10-5 lead in the opening set but Loyola would claw its way back. Two kills by Dana VanDiggelen helped the Ramblers close within a point at 10-9. In a battle of spurts, YSU rattled off the next four to go up 14-9 but the Ramblers would not be denied, reeling off 10 of the next 12 points to take a 19-16 lead. Francis, Lauren Ditscheit and Diana Schulte each had two kills in the spurt. The Penguins would get within a point on two occasions down the stretch but Loyola had an answer each time and Francis slammed kills for the final two points in a 25-22 win.

The second set was close throughout and kills from Mallory Curran and Francis pulled the Ramblers into a 13-13 tie midway through the frame. An Allison Heinz kill started a 3-0 YSU mini-run that gave them a little bit of a cushion and they closed the set on a 6-2 run to even the match heading into intermission.

Loyola dug itself a 6-0 hole in the third set before battling back. Two Francis service aces highlighted a 6-2 LU spurt that pulled the Ramblers within a pair, 13-11, but the Penguins responded with the next four points to rebuild their lead. Loyola tried to fight back, scoring the next three points to stay in the set but they could not get over the hump, dropping the third set by the same 25-18 score.

The Ramblers took an early 4-2 lead in the fourth set on a VanDiggelen ace but Youngstown State roared back, using three Loyola errors to score the next seven points and take a 9-4 lead. Loyola trailed 10-5 before a big run of its own, riding the serve of Mallory Curran to a seven-point run that gave the Ramblers a 12-10 advantage. The Penguins pulled even at 13 and, after trading points to 14-14, took off from there, using a pair of Ruth Bascaljon kills to open a 17-14 lead. The Ramblers hung tough but could get no closer than two points the rest of the way and Heinz capped the win with her 12th kill of the night.

Francis was the highlight for LU, firing three aces to go with her seventh double-double of the year. VanDiggelen (12 digs) and Johnson (11 digs) each added nine kills. Bascaljon was the story for Youngstown State, slamming a match-high 20 kills at a .600 clip (20-2-30) as the Penguins hit a sizzling .336 as a team.

Loyola takes the rest of the weekend off before returning to the Buckeye State next weekend for matches at Wright State and Cleveland State.