Nov. 23, 2013
Box Score
Des Moines, Iowa - Morgan Reardon celebrated her return to the lineup with a team-high 13 kills as Loyola opened up the final Missouri Valley weekend with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-18) sweep of Drake tonight in Des Moines, Iowa. Loyola's win coupled with Bradley's five-set loss at Northern Iowa means the Ramblers control their own destiny in the race for the sixth and final spot in the MVC tournament and will secure the bid with a win tomorrow night in Cedar Falls.
Loyola started off strong, using two Brittany Brown kills and a Vicki Wrobel ace as part of a 5-0 run that gave the Ramblers an 11-5 lead in the opening set. The lead ballooned to nine (17-8) on a Laura Purcell kill and Loyola cruised from there, using another Brown kill to wrap up a 25-15 win in the opening set. Reardon, who had missed the previous 14 matches through injury, had four kills in the opening set as did Libby Bresser.
A block from Brown and Bresser staked the Ramblers to an early 6-2 lead in the second set before Drake rallied. A pair of aces from Sarah Madden gave the Bulldogs a 12-10 lead but two Kathleen Vogel kills and a Drake error quickly put the Ramblers back in front. However, Drake held strong and led as late as 19-18 before Loyola finished with a flourish. A Reardon kill gave LU service and Brown was able to serve up the last seven points of the set, using two kills from Purcell and a kill and a block from Reardon, giving Loyola a 25-19 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Drake led 6-5 early in the third before Loyola rattled off six of the next seven points to take control. Bresser had two kills and added a block in the spurt as the Ramblers moved out to an 11-7 lead. Two more Reardon kills and an ace from Vogel pushed the lead to seven (17-10) and Loyola was never seriously challenged the rest of the way as kills from Bresser and Reardon closed out the match with a 25-18 win.
Loyola outhit Drake .262-.080 for the match and enjoyed the advantage in nearly every statistical category.
Reardon was terrific in her first appearance since Sept. 28, ripping 13 kills against just one error in 24 swings (13-1-24, .500) to lead the way. Bresser tied her season-high with 10 kills with Brown adding nine kills, six digs, four blocks and three aces in another dazzling all-around performance. Stephanie Kinane keyed Loyola's defense, which enjoyed a 66-45 advantage in digs, with 20 digs.
Loyola wraps up the regular season tomorrow night at Northern.
