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CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Loyola University Chicago volleyball team won its first home match since Aug. 28 with a three-set sweep (29-27, 25-17, 25-17) of Illinois State on Friday night. The Ramblers outhit the Redbirds .364 to .241 and only trailed three times the entire match. With the win, the Ramblers improve to 15-3 overall and 4-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play, while Illinois State falls to 12-6 (2-3 MVC).

A trio of Ramblers recorded double-digit kills, led by freshman Amanda Cushen, who tallied a career-high 17. Brittany Brown and Morgan Reardon each posted double-doubles, recording 11 kills a piece to go along with 12 and 11 digs, respectively. In addition, Caroline Holt tallied a season-high 43 assists, the second-most assists in a three-set match in the Valley so far this season, and matched her career-high of three kills for the second straight match.

The Ramblers raced out to an early 5-0 lead to open set one, led by kills from Brown and Sami Hansen and a Reardon service ace. Cushen then scored five of the next eight total points, firing five kills to increase Loyola's lead to 10-4. After kills from Brown and Reardon upped the Rambler lead to 15-10, Illinois State scored three unanswered to cut the lead to two, forcing Loyola to call a timeout. The Redbirds were then able to pull within one point, and the teams battled back-and-forth before back-to-back kills from Reardon and Maciagowski gave Loyola a 21-18 lead, forcing Illinois State to use a timeout. The Redbirds then scored six of the next nine points to tie the set at 24-24, and the two teams traded points until Loyola scored three straight, including kills from Reardon and Brown and a Sami Hansen block, to claim set one, 29-27.

Loyola scored the first four points of set two, led by a pair of kills from Hansen and one from Brown. Cushen then rallied to fire five consecutive kills, increasing the Rambler lead to 9-3. The Ramblers continued to build on the lead, eventually upping the score to 19-10 behind kills from Brown, Holt, Carls, Reardon and Hansen, before Cushen rallied again, scoring three of Loyola's next four points to force an Illinois State timeout. After an Alex Nunez service ace, the Redbirds put together a three-point run, but a Carls kill then ended set two, 25-17.

After Reardon began set three will a kill, Cushen fired two back-to-back to give Loyola a 3-0 lead. Despite a combined six kills from Reardon and Cushen, the Redbirds managed to hang around and eventually tied the set at 13-13. The two teams then traded points until the Ramblers scored four unanswered, including kills from Reardon and Hansen, to take a 19-16 lead and force an Illinois State timeout. The Ramblers then rallied to score six of the final seven points of the set, with Hansen posting three block assists during the stretch, to claim it, 25-17.

Loyola continues conference play tomorrow with a matchup against Indiana State (13-7, 2-3 MVC) at 4:00 p.m. CT.