Box Score

Tucson, Ariz. - No. 23 Arizona used 18 kills from reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week Madi Kingdon to earn a 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-21) sweep of Loyola tonight at the Arizona Invitational in Tucson, Ariz. The loss sends the Ramblers to 2-3 on the year while the Wildcats stay undefeated at 5-0.

"As a team, we have continued to grow," said head coach Chris Muscat. "The teams we have competed against thus far have pushed our level of execution in order to score. We look forward to the continued challenge as we prepare for Alabama State."

Once again, the Ramblers were slow coming out of the gates as the home team scored the first three and six of the first seven points of the match. Loyola trailed 12-4 after a hitting error and was never able to get untracked as Arizona kept the pressure on to earn a 25-14 victory. The Ramblers were plagued by some erratic hitting and six service errors in the set as the Wildcats were able to get some easy points.

Two Kingdon kills helped Arizona out to a 5-1 lead in the second set and forced Loyola to play from behind. Kills from Laura Purcell and Caroline Holt helped the Ramblers get into the set and it was only a three-point game still, 12-9, after an Arizona error. However, Kingdon slammed two more kills in a 5-0 scoring run that made it 17-9 before Loyola responded with three straight points of its own, the last on a Sami Hansen solo block, to stay within striking distance at 17-12. However, the Ramblers would get no closer as the Wildcats were able to side-out and prevent LU from stringing points together to snare a 25-17 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Loyola came out with renewed focus in the third set and the teams were tied at eight after a Maureen Carls kill. A four-point scoring run pushed the hosts out to a 15-10 lead but Loyola did not fold. Kills from Hansen and Kelly Feigh plus a Wildcat error made it 15-13 and the deficit was still just three (17-14) later after a Reardon kill. However, UA's Ashley Harris came up with a couple of big blocks to help the Wildcats open up a 23-17 advantage and a bad LU set would close out the match.

Arizona outhit the Ramblers .227-.046 for the match, with Loyola guilty of 25 hitting errors. Led by 12 digs from Stephanie Kinane, LU enjoyed a slight 46-44 edge in that category.

Reardon led the way again with eight kills but hit just -.059 (8-10-34). Hansen was solid in the middle, racking up seven kills, while Feigh also reached double digits in digs (11).

Loyola wraps up tournament play tomorrow afternoon with a 5:30 p.m. match against Alabama State.