Boxscore (PDF) 

PROVO, Utah (January 5, 2018)
 
In Short
Despite having seven players under the weather with flu-like symptoms, No. 13 Loyola University Chicago (1-0) earned a huge season-opening victory by outlasting No. 3 BYU, 25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-12 tonight at Smith Fieldhouse. Playing his first match at opposite, junior Dane Leclair had a career night in a true team victory, tallying 15 kills, seven digs and seven blocks, as the Ramblers hit .339 for the match.
 
How It Happened
Loyola showed no ill effects in set one, earning a 25-22 victory, as it hit .423 (14-3-26) with seven blocks. Collin Mahan tallied four of his 13 kills on the night in the first set, while LeClair tallied three kills and three blocks. Loyola stormed out to a 14-8 lead before BYU closed the gap, but the Ramblers held on for a 25-22 decision.
 
BYU used a 5-1 run to open up a 14-10 lead in set two and take control of play. Loyola refused to go down without a fight however, and a kill from Jeff Jendryk capped a 3-0 spurt that brought the Ramblers within a point, at 17-16. But, after the teams traded scores, the Cougars tallied consecutive points to push their lead back to three points and the Ramblers never got closer than two the remainder of the set.
 
Loyola took charge of set three thanks to a 6-2 run that featured three kills from Paul Narup, to turn a 9-all tie into a 13-9 lead.  BYU trimmed the Ramblers' lead and got within 19-17, but back-to-back kills from Mahan and Leclair provided some cushion and Loyola would close out a 25-20 victory on freshman Thomas Kovanic's first career kill.
 
Set four was a back-and-forth battle, with neither team leading by more than two points the entire set. A block by Jendryk and Garrett Zolg drew the Ramblers even at 23, but the Cougars tallied the final two points of the set for a 25-23 victory that forced a fifth set.
 
After BYU opened the scoring in set five, Loyola tallied the next two points to grab the lead and never looked back on the way to a 15-12 victory that gave the Ramblers their first-ever win over the Cougars in Provo. Loyola saw a 10-7 lead get whittled down to a single tally (10-9), but a Narup kill followed by a Cougar hitting error pushed the lead back to three and gave the Ramblers control.
 
A Look At The Numbers

• Leclair hit .538 (15-1-26) on the evening.
• Mahan contributed 13 kills, six digs and a pair of aces, while Narup, who hit a whopping .857 (12-0-14), matched a career high with 12 kills to go with seven blocks.
• Zolg was impressive in his first collegiate match, dishing out 46 assists and adding 13 digs and three blocks.
• Jendryk put up six kills and eight rejections, and Ryan Jamison, who was making his first career start, collected seven kills and six blocks.
• This marks the first time since 2014, when it knocked off No. 1 UC Irvine in five sets, that Loyola has opened a season with a victory over a top-five team. It also is the highest-ranked team the Ramblers have ever defeated on the road in a season opener.
• Gabi Garcia Fernandez led BYU with 23 kills.

Up Next
Loyola has little time to enjoy the win as it returns to action tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. Central when it battles No. 7 UC Irvine, which took down No. 6 Lewis in three sets earlier tonight.