Aug. 26, 2012

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Loyola picked up right where it left off yesterday, using a balanced attack led by Anna Eytchison's 13 kills to knock off La Salle, 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-21), this morning at the La Salle Invitational in Philadelphia, Pa. The Ramblers improve to 3-0 on the young season and have not dropped a set while La Salle drops to 1-2 with the loss.

"I thought we did a nice job today of establishing the middle and Libby (Bresser) and Nichole (Riedel) were very active today," said head coach Chris Muscat. "We are doing a nice job of playing our style of volleyball and using our strengths to attack our opponents' weaknesses."

After spotting La Salle the opening point of the match, Loyola used a pair of Kathleen Vogel kills and rattled off the next five to take the early lead. The Explorers answered immediately by scoring seven of the next nine to regain the lead but a kill and an ace from Brittany Brown and a Riedel kill helped the Ramblers get their rhythm back. Consecutive aces from Vicki Wrobel pushed the LU lead to four (16-12) and back-to-back kills from Eytchison later made it 22-16 and the Dayton transfer rocketed another kill on set point to close out a 25-17 win.

The teams were tied four times to get to 6-6 in the second set before Loyola took command. Brown had a kill and two aces in a 6-0 spurt that made it a 12-6 Rambler lead. The Explorers were able to get back within four (15-11) before a 5-1 LU scoring run made it 20-12 and Kelly Feigh's first collegiate kill capped a 25-14 win that sent the Ramblers to intermission with a 2-0 lead in the match.

Kills from Riedel and Laura Purcell and two aces from Stephanie Kinane gave Loyola a 4-0 lead in the third set but La Salle battled back and pulled even at 6-6 on a Rachel Finkbeiner kill. The teams battled back and forth throughout the middle portion of the set before Loyola was able to create some distance. A La Salle service error gave the Ramblers a 16-13 lead and Vogel served up three more points to give them a 19-13 advantage but the home team did not quit, catching Loyola at 21-all after a Lauren Noga kill. However, Loyola answered the challenge as Eytchison drilled back-to-back kills and Purcell added another seconds later as the Ramblers clinched the win by scoring the last four points.

Loyola hit .275 for the match and was led by Eytchison's 13 kills. Purcell (10) also reached double figures while Bresser (7) and Brown (6) also contributed to the offensive effort. Kinane was solid as Loyola's back-row anchor with a match-best 17 digs.

"Our goal coming out here was to go 4-0 this weekend," stated Muscat. "We have set ourselves up well and now we need to finish and make sure we are playing our best volleyball to close it out."

The Ramblers look to complete the weekend sweep when they battle Bucknell at Noon.