Sep 7, 2013

Box Score

Greenville, N.C. - Freshman Morgan Reardon recorded a match-high 16 kills to lead Loyola to a 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-20) sweep of East Carolina to claim the title at the ECU Classic tonight in Greenville, N.C. Loyola improves to 5-2 on the season while East Carolina drops to 2-4 with the setback.

For the third straight match, Loyola jumped on its opponent from the opening serve. Kills from Reardon, Maureen Carls and Libby Bresser helped stake the Ramblers to a 5-0 lead but the home team would eventually settle in. After a Loyola error made it a 9-8 game, an ECU error, a Brittany Brown ace and a Carls kill extended LU's lead to four and the Ramblers were able to play from in front until a Torre Blake kill tied it at 15. The teams were tied again at 21 before Loyola dug in. An Emily Carr kill gave the Ramblers the lead and another Brown ace gave Loyola a 24-21 lead. After a service error, Carls ripped her third kill of the set to give Loyola the opening set for the sixth time in seven matches this season.

The second set was close through the early stages but two Carr kills helped push the Ramblers to a 14-9 advantage. Loyola kept pushing, with Reardon, Carls and Carr all scoring, and the Ramblers eventually opened up a seemingly comfortable 22-13 lead after a Reardon ace. Three ECU blocks helped the Pirates get within 23-18 but a service error gave the Ramblers six set points at 24-18. However, East Carolina caught fire and managed to draw even at 24 but a Carls kill gave LU a seventh chance and a Pirates hitting error gave the Ramblers a 26-24 victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.

East Carolina regrouped and scored six of the first nine points of the third set to take the early lead. Trailing 7-4, Loyola reeled off six consecutive points to grab a 10-7 advantage and kills from Carls, Reardon and Libby Bresser later pushed LU out to a 17-12 lead and the Pirates would get no closer than four points the rest of the way with Reardon's 16th kill closing out the match.

Loyola managed to hit .204 for the match and used a tough defense to hold the home team to a .144 efficiency.

Reardon narrowly missed her first collegiate double-double, finishing with 16 kills and nine digs. Carls added nine kills and Carr finished with seven. Libero Stephanie Kinane was outstanding in the back row, racking up a season-high 26 digs, while Brown handed out 39 assists to go with three aces.

Carls was named the tournament's most valuable player after a terrific weekend and she was joined by Kinane and Reardon on the all-tournament team.

Loyola returns to action next weekend when they travel to Notre Dame for the Shamrock Invitational.