Final Stats

WICHITA, Kans. -- The Loyola University Chicago volleyball team suffered its first road loss of the season on Saturday night, falling to Wichita State in five sets (20-25, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23, 16-14) to drop to 6-2 in Missouri Valley Conference play. With the win, the Shockers claim sole possession of the Valley lead.

Morgan Reardon led the Ramblers with 18 kills, while Brittany Brown and Sami Hansen each added 11 apiece. Caroline Holt added a match-high 33 assists, while Loyola's newest all-time career digs leader Stephanie Kinane tallied a team-high 20 digs.

"We had a lot of fight in us tonight and rebounded well after the first two sets," said head coach Chris Muscat. "Once we settled down, we executed well and gave ourselves consistent looks both defensively and offensively. We will learn from this experience and be ready for a Tuesday night matchup against Northern Iowa."

Wichita State jumped out to a 5-1 lead to open set one and force a Loyola timeout, but the Ramblers managed to pull within two points after back-to-back points from Sami Hansen, a kill and a block, made the score 9-7. The Shockers maintained the steady lead until Loyola scored three unanswered, including kills from Holt and Hansen and a Maureen Carls service ace, to tie the set at 15-15, forcing a Wichita State timeout. The teams then traded points out of the timeout, but the Shockers scored six straight to end the set, 25-20.

After trading points to open set two, Wichita State scored four unanswered to take a 10-7 lead, forcing a Rambler timeout. The Ramblers responded with back-to-back kills from Carls and Gabi Maciagowski, but the Shockers fired four kills to up the lead to 14-10 and force Loyola to use a second timeout. Wichita State rallied out of the timeout, scoring four of the next five points, but Loyola managed to cut the lead to four once again behind back-to-back points from Reardon. The Shockers then scored five of the final six points of the set to win it, 25-17, and take an overall 2-0 lead.

After the Ramblers raced out to an 11-6 lead to begin set three, a four-point Wichita State run cut the lead to one, forcing a Loyola timeout. However, the Ramblers responded with a four-point run of their own, including a pair of kills from Reardon and one apiece from Hansen and Morgan Gresham, to take a 15-10 lead and force a Shocker timeout. Loyola held on to the steady lead until the Shockers scored three straight, cutting the lead to 21-18, but the Ramblers responded with a three-point run of their own, including kills from Reardon and Hansen and a Gresham service ace, to up the lead to six. Loyola went on to win the set, as a Reardon kill ended it, 25-20.

The Shockers took an early 8-6 lead to begin set four, but the Ramblers rallied to tie the set behind kills from Gresham, Reardon and Brittany Brown. The teams then traded points before Wichita State scored back-to-back to take a 20-18 lead and force a Loyola timeout. The Ramblers responded by scoring four of the next five points, including a pair of kills from Brown, a Kathleen Vogel service ace and a Reardon-Carls block, to take a 22-21 lead. Loyola went on to win the set, 25-23, to tie the match at two sets apiece and force a fifth set for the first time this season.

Wichita State scored the firs three points of set five, but the Ramblers battled back to tie the set at 5-5. The Shockers managed to up the lead to 10-7, but kills from Maciagowski, Brown and Hansen, followed by an Alex Nunez service ace, tied the set at 11-11 and forced a Shocker timeout. The teams then battled back-and-forth before two straight Wichita State kills ended set five, 16-14, to give the Shockers the victory,

The Ramblers are back in action on Tuesday, Oct. 20 for a matchup against Northern Iowa at 5 p.m. in Gentile Arena.