Final Stats

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The Loyola University Chicago volleyball team's season came to a close on Thursday night as host No. 3 Missouri State swept the sixth-seeded Ramblers (13-25, 20-25, 16-25) in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship. Morgan Reardon recorded a team-high nine kills, while Sami Hansen and Maureen Carls added seven and five, respectively. Caroline Holt narrowly missed a double-double, as the sophomore tallied 29 assists to go along with nine digs, while Maddy Moser anchored the back row with a team-high 14 digs.

After trading points to begin set one, Missouri State scored six straight to take a 9-4 lead, forcing a Loyola timeout. The Ramblers hung around behind kills from Maureen Carls and Gabi Maciagowski, but a three-point Missouri State run then upped the lead to 14-7, forcing Loyola to use its second and final timeout. Despite kills from Amanda Cushen, Morgan Reardon and Maciagowski, Missouri State held on to claim set one, 25-13, after outhitting the Ramblers .361 to .061.

Missouri State scored the first four points of set two before Cushen fired a kill to put the Ramblers on the board. The teams then battled back-and-forth until Missouri State scored three unanswered points to up the lead to 8-3, forcing a Loyola timeout. The Ramblers then rallied to score five of the next seven points, including a Sami Hansen kill and a Maddy Moser service ace, to cut the Missouri State lead to 10-8 and force the Bears to call a timeout. Loyola scored the next two points to tie the set, and the teams battled back-and-forth until a four-point Rambler run, including kills from Caroline Holt, Brittany Brown and Reardon, gave Loyola a 14-12 lead and forced a Missouri State timeout. However, the Bears rallied to score seven of the next nine points and reclaim the lead, upping the score to 19-16 and forcing a Loyola timeout. The Ramblers managed to pull within one point behind kills from Hansen and Reardon, along with a Hansen-Holt block, but Missouri State scored the final four points of the set to win it, 25-20.

The two teams traded points to begin set three, with Carls, Maciagowski and Hansen recording kills for the Ramblers, until Missouri State scored five unanswered to take a 13-7 lead, forcing Loyola to use both timeouts during the stretch. The Bears continued to build on the lead, scoring seven of the next nine points to increase the score to 18-9 before Carls and Reardon combined for five points to cut the Missouri State lead to 21-14. However, Missouri State held on to claim set three, 25-16, to defeat Loyola and advance to the MVC Championship semifinals.