GAME INFORMATION
Location: Antelope Gymnasium - Phoenix, Ariz.
Final Score: No. 12 Loyola 3, Grand Canyon 1 (23-25, 25-19, 33-31, 25-18)
Records: Loyola (17-6, 10-3 MIVA); Grand Canyon (14-11, 7-8 MIVA)
Stats: Box Score

In Short...
After dropping set one, Loyola rallied to win the next three and defeat Grand Canyon in the first of a two-game series on Friday night in Phoenix. Loyola outhit the Lopes .385 to .259 with three Ramblers recording double-digit kills, led by 20 from Jeff Jendryk.
 

How it Happened
Jeff Jendryk led the Ramblers on an early five-point run, slamming four kills and teaming up with Trevor Novotny and Peter Hutz for a block, to give Loyola a 9-4 lead. Grand Canyon then battled back to score five of the next six points and tie the set, but Ben Plaisted and Owen McAndrews combined for three straight points to put Loyola back on top, 14-11. The Lopes then scored the next four unanswered to tie the set once again, and the teams swapped sideouts until Grand Canyon scored the final three points to claim set one, 25-23.

The Ramblers used a few strings of back-to-back points to take a 15-11 lead in set two and didn't surrendered the lead, never allowing the Lopes to pull within more than three points for the remainder of the frame. Jendryk upped the score to 21-15 on back-to-back points, a kill and a solo stuff, and the Ramblers went on to take set two, 25-19.

The two teams swapped sideouts to open set three until Grand Canyon scored three straight points to take a 17-15 lead, forcing a Rambler timeout. Loyola then tied the set with a kill from Trevor Novotny and a Grand Canyon error, and the teams traded points until the Ramblers scored three unanswered, capped by back-to-back kills from Ben Plaisted and Novotny, to win the frame, 33-31.

Loyola jumped out to a 13-8 lead to open the fourth set, capped by back-to-back points from Owen McAndrews. Grand Canyon managed to cut the deficit to four points, but the Ramblers scored three straight, including a double-stuff from McAndrews and Peter Hutz, to up the score to 19-12. The Ramblers never allowed the Lopes to cut the deficit to fewer than four for the remainder of the set, and Loyola went on to win it, 25-18.

Inside the Numbers
- Three Ramblers recorded double-digit kills in the victory, led by 20 from Jeff Jendryk. Ben Plaisted added 13, while Trevor Novotny totaled 11
- Owen McAndrews and Ben Plaisted each matched their career-high of six blocks
- Loyola hit a blazing .636 in the second set, racking up 17 kills with only three errors.

Up Next
The two teams square off in the second and final game of the series tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. CT.