Box Score

CHICAGO - The No. 2 Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team outhit No. 15 IPFW .455 to .124 en route to a three set sweep (25-17, 25-21, 25-17) of the Mastodons on Thursday night inside Gentile Arena. Cody Caldwell led the Ramblers with a match-high 11 kills, while Trevor Novotny and Ben Plaisted added 10 and eight, respectively.

Loyola jumped out to an early lead to open the first set after back-to-back kills from Caldwell and Nicholas Olson, followed by a Novotny service ace, put the Ramblers on top, 7-1. IPFW was able to pull within two points, but a Jeff Jendryk kill and two straight Mastodon errors increased Loyola's lead to 11-6, forcing an IPFW timeout. Loyola then scored four of the next six points behind kills from Jendryk, Caldwell and Plaisted, followed by a block by Plaisted and Olson, to take a 15-8 lead. The Ramblers maintained the steady lead until they scored three unanswered points, capped by a service ace from Peter Hutz, to run up the score to 23-14 and ultimately win the set on a Caldwell kill.

The Ramblers began the second set by scoring four of the first five points behind back-to-back kills from Novotny and Caldwell, along with a block by Hutz and Jendryk. Loyola held on to the steady three-point lead until back-to-back plays from Olson, a kill and a block, increased the Rambler lead to 12-7. The teams battled back-and-forth until the Mastodons pulled to within two points, cutting the Rambler lead to 17-15 and forcing a Loyola timeout. The Ramblers stormed out of the timeout, scoring three of the next four points to take a 20-16 lead, and held off the Mastodons to claim the second set.

After giving up a point to IPFW to begin the third set, the Ramblers fired four straight kills, two from Novotny and one each from Plaisted and Caldwell, to take a 4-1 lead. The teams traded points until Loyola went on a 6-1 run behind kills from Jendryk, Olson, Caldwell and Novotny, followed by a block by Novotny and Olson, to take a 15-8 lead. The Ramblers held on to the lead and fended off the Mastodons until back-to-back kills from Olson ended the set and gave Loyola the victory.

The Ramblers are back in action on Saturday when they begin a four-game road stint at Ball State.