Final Stats

CHICAGO, Ill. - The Loyola University Chicago volleyball team dropped a five-set thriller (28-26, 28-26, 21-25, 21-25, 17-19) to Southern Illinois on Friday night, as the Salukis overcame a 2-0 deficit to bump the Ramblers from the number two spot in the Missouri Valley Conference. With the loss, the Ramblers drop to 18-6 overall and 7-4 in Valley play, while the Salukis improve to 8-3 in the conference.

Morgan Reardon and Brittany Brown led the Rambler offense, racking up 19 and 18 kills, respectively, while Caroline Holt tallied a season-high 65 assists. Southern Illinois outhit Loyola .271 to .195 while recording 19 blocks.

The two teams traded points to begin set one, with Brown, Reardon, Holt, Maureen Carls, Sami Hansen and Amanda Cushen all recording kills for the Ramblers, before the Salukis scored five straight to take a 19-13 lead and force a Loyola timeout. Loyola then responded with a run of its own behind a pair of Reardon kills, two blocks from Hansen and a Carls service ace to cut the Southern Illinois lead to one point. The teams continued to battle back-and-forth, with Reardon and Brown tallying two kills apiece, before a Carls-Brown block gave the Ramblers a 23-22 lead, forcing a Saluki timeout. After Southern's Viggars fired back-to-back kills to give the Saluki's a 24-23 lead, Loyola rallied to score five of the last seven points and claim the set, 28-26. The Ramblers outhit the Salukis .395 to .308 in the first set, with Reardon and Brown combining for 13 kills.

After falling behind 12-10 to start set two, Loyola scored three straight points on a pair of Reardon kills and a Saluki error to take the lead. The teams then battled back-and-forth until Southern Illinois scored three unanswered points to take a 22-20 lead, but the Ramblers responded by scoring three of the next four, including kills from Reardon and Carls, to tie the set. Loyola went on to take set two, 28-26, behind points from Cushen, Carls and Gabi Maciagowski.

Southern Illinois jumped out to a 9-5 lead to begin set three, forcing a Loyola timeout. The Ramblers then responded by scoring four of the next five points, including kills from Reardon and Carls, a Holt service ace and a Carls-Brown block, to pull within one and force a Saluki timeout. The teams then battled back-and-forth, with Brown, Reardon, Cushen, Hansen, Holt and Alex Nunez scoring points for the Ramblers, before a four-point Saluki run upped the score to 19-17, forcing a Loyola timeout. The Ramblers managed to tie the set at 19-19, but Southern Illinois rallied to take set three, 25-21.

The Salukis carried the momentum into set four, racing out to a 15-7 lead and forcing Loyola to use both of its timeouts. The Ramblers responded by scoring three straight, including kills from Brown and Morgan Gresham, to cut the lead to five, but Southern Illinois continued to build on the lead, eventually upping the score to 23-15. The Ramblers then scored five unanswered points, as Gresham fired three straight kills after a pair of Saluki errors, to cut the lead to 23-20 and force a Southern Illinois timeout. However, the Salukis held on to claim set four, 25-21, and force Loyola to play a fifth set for just the second time this season.

After falling behind 9-4 to begin set five, Loyola scored three straight points behind kills from Brown and Carls to cut the Saluki lead to three and force a Southern Illinois timeout. The teams then traded points until another Loyola run, including kills from Gresham and Carls, gave the Ramblers a 12-11 lead. The Salukis responded by scoring three of the next four points and taking a 14-13 lead, but a Reardon kill and a Hansen block gave Loyola the match-point advantage. After the two teams battled back-and-forth, Southern Illinois scored three straight points to end set five, 19-17, and claim the victory.

Loyola is back in action tomorrow with a 5 p.m. match against Evansville.