Final Stats

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Loyola University Chicago volleyball team improved to 2-2 on the season after sweeping IPFW (25-18, 25-17, 25-18) in the first game of the Hampton Inn Invitational on Friday. Freshman Amanda Cushen led the Ramblers, racking up a match-high 11 kills, while Maureen Carls and Sami Hansen added eight kills apiece.

The first set began with the teams trading points back and forth, with Carls firing three kills while Brittany Brown and Hansen added one apiece. The Mastodons began to pull away after a kill and a pair of Rambler errors, but Loyola scored three straight points behind kills from Reardon and Gabi Maciagowski to tie the set at 11-11. IPFW then rallied to score seven of the next nine points and take an 18-13 lead, forcing Loyola to use both timeouts during the stretch. A pair of freshman then stepped up out of the final timeout, as Cushen recorded two kills and Maddy Moser delivered a service ace to pull the Ramblers to within two points. Another Cushen kill and two Mastodon errors then gave Loyola the 19-18 lead, forcing IPFW to use its final timeout. The Ramblers continued the rally out of the timeout, as kills from Cushen and Hansen, a Moser service ace, and blocks by Hansen, Cushen and Maciagowski capped a 12-0 run to give Loyola the set one victory, 25-18.

After falling 5-2 to begin the second set, a Carls kill followed by back-to-back kills from Reardon tied the set. The teams then traded points until Loyola scored three unanswered, including a Cushen kill and two straight double stuffs from Maciagowski and Hansen, to take an 11-8 lead. After a Mastodon kill, Maciagowski recorded a kill and Reardon added a block to up the Loyola lead to 13-9, forcing an IPFW timeout. The Mastodons then rallied to score six of the next eight points, tying the set at 15-15, before Loyola scored four straight, including kills from Carls and Brown and a Reardon service ace, to once again claim the lead and force IPFW to use its final timeout. Loyola then went on to score six of the final eight points of the set, with Cushen and Brown combining for three kills and two blocks, to claim set two 25-17 and take an overall 2-0 lead.

The two teams traded points to begin set three before a 5-2 Mastodon run caused Loyola to fall behind, 9-6. However, the Ramblers responded by scoring three straight points, including kills from Hansen and Maciagowski and a double block from Hansen and Reardon, to tie the set at 9-9. The teams then continued to battle back-and-forth until Loyola put together another three-point run, as Brown fired a kill and the Mastodons committed back-to-back errors to give Loyola a 17-14 lead, forcing an IPFW timeout. The Ramblers then rallied out of the timeout to score four of the next five points, led by kills from Hansen, Reardon and Cushen and a Moser service ace, to up the lead to 21-16 and force IPFW to use its final timeout. The Ramblers were able to hold off the Mastodons and went on to take set three, 25-18, and claim the overall 3-0 victory.

The Ramblers are back in action at the Hampton Inn Invitational on Saturday, with Loyola's game against host Bowling Green set to air live on ESPN3 at 11:30 a.m. CT. The team will then take on former Horizon League foe Wright State at 4:30 p.m. CT in the final game of the tournament.