Box Score

CHICAGO - After sweeping Grand Canyon last night, the No. 2 Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team followed up the performance with another sweep of the Lopes tonight inside Gentile Arena. With the win, Loyola improves to 16-1 on the season and 8-1 in MIVA play. Thomas Jaeschke fired 12 kills for the second straight night to lead the Ramblers, while Trevor Novotny added a career-high 11.

The Ramblers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead to begin the set, as Jaeschke started the game with a service ace and a kill, followed by back-to-back kills from Novotny. Loyola maintained a steady lead behind multiple kills from Jeff Jendryk, Jaeschke and Ben Plaisted before the Lopes scored three unanswered to tie the game at 15-15. Despite a pair of kills from Jaeschke and one from Nicholas Olson, Grand Canyon took a 19-18 lead to force a Rambler timeout. The teams traded points until a Grand Canyon error and a block by Jendryk and Peter Hutz gave Loyola the 25-23 first-set victory.

Loyola scored the first three points of the second set, a Jaeschke service ace and kills by Jendryk and Novotny, but the Lopes responded by scoring three of their own to tie the game. The teams battled back-and-forth until Grand Canyon scored three unanswered to take a 9-8 lead and force a Rambler timeout. Jaeschke led Loyola out of the timeout, firing two kills and recording a block with Jendryk to put the Ramblers back on top, 11-9. Loyola continued to build on the lead, taking a 23-19 lead, but Grand Canyon scored four of the next five points to cut the Rambler lead to one and force a timeout. The set ended with Trevor Novotny scoring back-to-back points, a kill followed by a service ace, to end the second set, 26-24.

The third set began with the two teams trading points until Loyola scored four straight, two from Jendryk and two from Olson, to take a 6-3 lead. The Ramblers maintained a steady lead until back-to-back points from Jendryk, a kill and a block, made the score 13-8 and forced a Grand Canyon timeout. The Lopes were able to pull within one, but kills from Jaeschke, Jendryk and Novotny, followed by a block by Hutz and Olson, increased the Rambler lead to 23-19. After an Olson kill, he and Hutz ended the set with a block, their six and fifth of the night, respectively, to give the Ramblers the 25-21 third-set victory and their second consecutive sweep.

The Ramblers have a week off before returning to action on Thursday, March 26 to host IPFW.