Final Stats

NORMAL, Ill. - Despite winning the first set, the Loyola University Chicago volleyball team dropped a four-set match (25-16, 25-14, 20-25, 15-25) to Illinois State on Saturday night. Morgan Reardon and Sami Hansen led the Ramblers with 10 kills apiece, while Maureen Carls led the Rambler defense with four blocks. With the loss, Loyola drops to 19-8 overall and 8-6 in Missouri Valley Conference play, while Illinois State captures its 10th conference win.

Loyola jumped out to an early 4-0 lead behind kills from Cushen and Maciagowski, and continued to build on the lead until three straight kills from Reardon and Hansen upped the score to 14-6, forcing an Illinois State timeout. A Carls kill increased the lead to 22-13, and after a Redbird error Hansen scored back-to-back, a kill and a block, to win it, 25-16. The Ramblers outhit the Redbirds .429 to .069 in the first set.

Illinois State raced out to 13-5 lead to open set two, forcing Loyola to us both timeouts during the stretch. Despite a pair of Carls kills and a handful of Redbird errors, Illinois State managed to up the lead to 21-12. The Redbirds scored four of the final six points of the set to win it, 25-14 behind a .333 hitting percentage, while holding the Ramblers to a mere .048.

After trading points to begin set three, Illinois State scored seven unanswered to take a 14-6 lead, forcing Loyola to use both timeouts during the stretch. The Redbirds maintained the steady lead until the Ramblers scored three straight points, including a Carls kill and a Cushen-Vogel bock, cut the lead to 22-17 and force an Illinois State timeout. Despite kills from Maciagowski, Carls and Hansen, the Redbirds held on to win set three, 25-20.

The two teams traded points to begin set four until Illinois State scored three straight to take a 9-5 lead, forcing a Loyola timeout. Despite two kills apiece from Jackie Kocken and Hansen, Illinois State maintained the steady lead, eventually upping the score to 15-10. The Redbirds scored five of the next eight points to increase the lead to 20-13, and held on to win set four, 25-15, to defeat Loyola, 3-1.