Aug 31, 2013
Box Score
Toledo, Ohio - West Virginia was able to win the big points down the stretch in the first and third sets and claimed a 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-23) win over Loyola this afternoon in the Ramblers' final match of the UT Blue/Gold Volleyball Invitational in Toledo, Ohio. The Ramblers conclude the weekend with a 2-2 record while West Virginia improves to 2-0 with the win.
Looking for its first win over a Big 12 Conference squad since 1992, the opening set was tight throughout. Consecutive West Virginia errors pulled Loyola into a 9-9 tie but the Mountaineers scored the next four points and were able to play from the lead through the middle stages. Two Kathleen Vogel kills and one from Libby Bresser forged a 17-17 deadlock but, again, WVU was able to inch back in front. A Morgan Reardon kill later made it a 22-20 WVU edge but West Virginia was able to win three of the final four points to close out a 25-21 win.
Loyola was on its heels early in the second set as West Virginia jumped out to leads of 6-2 and 10-5 before the Ramblers battled back. Bresser had a kill and a block to get LU within a pair (10-8) but points were hard to come by for LU and the Mountaineers were able to slowly pull away from there, taking a 2-0 lead into intermission with a 25-16 victory.
The early part of the third set followed a similar pattern, as the Ramblers found themselves in an early 9-4 hole. Consecutive stuffs at the net helped Loyola get within two and it was just a one-point deficit (11-10) later after an Olivia Akin kill. West Virginia managed to maintain its slight advantage through the middle portion of the set until a hitting error made it 17-17. The teams traded points all the way to 22-all before a service error gave LU a 23-22 edge. However, two Rambler hitting errors brought WVU to match point and the Mountaineer block came up big at the net to seal the match.
Loyola was right there in both the first and third sets despite hitting just .089 for the match. West Virginia was slightly better at .195 with the teams evenly matched in the other statistical categories.
Reardon had 11 kills to lead Loyola, which also received eight kills from Maureen Carls and six from Bresser.
Loyola returns to action next weekend when it competes at the ECU Invitational hosted by East Carolina.
