Oct. 15, 2010
Box Score
Dayton, Ohio - Colleen Francis racked up her sixth double-double in nine Horizon League matches but Wright State was more efficient offensively and earned a 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-17) win over the Ramblers tonight at McLin Gymnasium in Dayton, Ohio. The Ramblers see their modest two-match winning streak come to close and drop to 9-11 (2-7 Horizon) while the Raiders wrap up a season sweep and improve to 8-13 (3-6).
The first set was back-and-forth through the middle stages as the teams were tied 13 different times to get to 16-all. After a service error gave Wright State the lead, Heidi Splinter served up back-to-back aces to give the Raiders a 19-16 edge. Loyola managed to regroup and battled back to tie at 21 on a Mallory Curran/Diana Schulte block. The teams traded points to 23-all before two Splinter kills gave the home team the opening set.
Loyola jumped in front early in the second set, taking a 7-5 lead on a Bridget Nickel kill before Wright State rallied. The Raiders used a 9-4 run to grab a 14-11 lead but two errors and a Cat Languido ace saw the Ramblers quickly draw level at 14. Another Splinter ace gave WSU a 17-15 lead and a 5-0 Raider run moments later pushed the lead to six before a Splinter solo stuff capped off a 25-18 WSU win.
The Ramblers started off hot in the third set, tallying four of the first five points before Wright State took control. A Melissa Hastings kill kept LU in front (6-4) but the Raiders, again, used their serve to take command, rattling off seven of the next eight points, capped by two more Splinter aces, to take an 11-7 lead. The Ramblers had trouble stringing points together and could not get closer than three the rest of the way.
Each team finished the match with 38 kills but Loyola's 20 hitting errors were twice that of its host. The other key, much like the first meeting, was at the service line, where Wright State fired eight aces to the Ramblers' two.
Francis was solid, racking up team highs of 11 kills and 12 digs. Schulte finished with nine kills while Hastings added seven kills and 10 digs.
Loyola wraps up its weekend road swing with a 3 p.m. match tomorrow at Butler.
