Loyola vs. Samford Boxscore (PDF)

CHICAGO (September 3, 2017)
 
In Short
Four players tallied 10 or more kills and as a team, Loyola University Chicago hit a sizzling .359 (57-10-131) to earn a 26-24, 20-25, 25-20, 25-18 victory over Samford (2-4) this afternoon at Gentile Arena in the final match of the 2017 Rambler Challenge. The win is the Ramblers' first of the season and moves them to 1-5 on the year.
 
How It Happened
Loyola trailed by as many as five points in the opening set before making a spirited comeback to pull out a 26-24 victory. Things looked bleak when a Loyola service error gave Samford a 22-18 advantage, but the Ramblers stormed back to record eight of the final 10 points of the set to earn the win.  Haley Hoffman opened the comeback with a kill and after a Bulldog hitting error, Elle Van Grinsven and Gabi Maciagowski combined for a block before Maciagowski's kill knotted the score at 22. The teams would trade the next four points before Delilah Wolf's kill gave Loyola the lead for good.
 
Samford built a 17-11 lead in set two, but Loyola chipped away at the deficit and got within 22-19 on a Maciagowski kill that capped an 8-3 run. However, a Rambler service error stalled the rally and the Bulldogs would close the set by registering three of the final four points for a 25-20 victory that evened the match at a set apiece.
 
The Ramblers hit a blistering .464 (14-1-28) in set three and used a 4-0 run that was capped by one of Heather Kocken's career-high 14 kills, to grab an early 7-3 lead it would never relinquish. Loyola led by as many as seven points on a pair of occasions, the last being at 19-12, but Samford refused to go quietly, slicing the Ramblers' lead to 22-20 before Van Grinsven and Kocken sandwiched kills around a Bulldog error to lift the Ramblers to a 25-20 victory.
 
Loyola never trailed in the fourth set and benefitted from a 6-2 run, highlighted by a pair of kills each from Kocken and Maciagowski, that turned a one-point edge into an 11-6 lead. The Ramblers' would push that advantage to as many as nine points, allowing them to coast to the win.
 
At the conclusion of the match, Loyola's Morgan Gresham was named to the Rambler Challenge All-Tournament Team along with Jenn Dore (Milwaukee), Mayda Garcia (Fairfield) and Krista Boesing (Samford).
 
A Look At The Numbers

• Kocken finished with a career-high 14 kills and hit .500 (14-126) on the day to pace Loyola's balanced and efficient attack.
• Maciagowski pitched in 13 kills and seven blocks, while Quinn Spieker added 10 kills.
• Gresham continued her strong play by tallying a career-high-tying 10 kills to go with 15 digs.
• Maddy Moser notched her third double-double of the season with 22 assists and 12 digs.
• Kelsi Hobbs led Samford with 19 kills.

 
Up Next
Loyola opens play at the Marquette Invitational by facing the host Golden Eagles Friday night (Sept. 9) at 7 p.m.