Box Score

FORT WAYNE - The No. 1 Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team defeated No. 9 IPFW in a 25-19, 25-11, 25-20 sweep to improve to 9-0 on the season. With the win, the Ramblers remain undefeated in MIVA play and join No. 2 Lewis and No. 12 Ohio State as the only teams without a conference loss. Thomas Jaeschke led the Ramblers with 11 kills, while Ben Plaisted added nine.

"This was a big win for us," said head coach Shane Davis. "IPFW is a great team who will be right in the mix at the end of the year. Every guy out there did his job and it was a total team win."

The Ramblers jumped out an early 6-2 in the first set behind kills from Ben Plaisted and Peter Hutz, along with a block by Jeff Jendryk. After a string of IPFW errors and kills from Jendryk and Thomas Jaeschke increased the Rambler lead to 11-6, the teams traded points back-and-forth, with Ben Plaisted scoring three of the Ramblers' next five points. Loyola took a 19-12 lead after back-to-back kills from Jaeschke and Cody Caldwell, but the Mastodons scored three unanswered points to force a Rambler timeout. After a handful of IPFW errors, a Jendryk kill ended the set 25-19, giving Loyola a 1-0 lead.

After battling back-and-forth to begin the second set, the Ramblers fired off three straight kills, one from Owen McAndrews and two from Jaeschke, to take a 9-5 lead. The teams traded points until back-to-back service aces from Jaeschke increased the Rambler lead to 13-6, forcing an IPFW timeout. Loyola stormed out of the timeout, scoring four unanswered points behind back-to-back plays from Plaisted, a kill and a block, and another Jaeschke service ace to take a 17-6 lead. The Mastodons were able to put together a 3-0 run to cut the lead to 20-11, but the Ramblers ended the set by scoring five of the next six points behind kills from Hutz, Jendryk and Plaisted to win it 25-11 and take a 2-0 lead.

The third set began with the two teams trading points until the Ramblers scored three unanswered behind McAndrews and Jaeschke to take a 6-5 lead. IPFW scored to tie the game at 6-6, but the Ramblers fired three straight kills, one from McAndrews and two from Caldwell, to go back on top, 9-6. The Ramblers maintained a steady lead as the teams traded points back-and-forth, with Caldwell, Plaisted, Jendryk and Jaeschke each recording a kill, until back-to-back Mastodon errors increased the Rambler lead to 17-13. Loyola held off the Mastodons to ultimately win the set 25-20 and end the game with a three-set sweep.

Loyola hit .408 over three sets while limiting IPFW to a mere .094.

The Ramblers are back in action this weekend when they return to Gentile Arena to take on No. 15 Ball State on Feb. 14 at 7:00 p.m.