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CHICAGO (December 27, 2018) – The road to National Championship number three officially begins on January 4 for the Loyola men's volleyball team as the No. 9-ranked Ramblers welcome No. 4 UC Irvine to Gentile Arena for a 7:00 p.m. tilt. Now in his fourth season as the head coach, Mark Hulse returns 13 letterwinners that helped guide last year's team to a 23-7 overall record. The 2019 Ramblers is the first squad to have no players leftover from either National Championship team from 2014 or 2015, but this current crop of student-athletes are up to the challenge of returning to the top of the mountain.
 
Outside Hitters:
Senior Collin Mahan is back for his senior season and is Hulse's most experienced player on the outside. A household name to LUC fans, Mahan enters 2019 needing 226 kills to reach the 1,000 career kill plateau, and would be the first Rambler since Thomas Jaeschke to crack quadruple-digits. The Victor, N.Y. native enters 2019 as the Preseason MIVA Player of the Year and has intentions of building off his phenomenal junior season that earned him an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention nod. After compiling 12 career matches of double-digit kills through his first three years, senior Will Tischler is tasked with a larger role on the pins. Complimenting Mahan and Tischler is sophomore Devin Joslyn, who shined for the U.S.A. Jr. National Team last fall. Senior Markus Melbardis, and freshmen Cole Schlothauer, Ian Piet and Andrew Lyons will also be vying for playing time.
 
Opposite Hitters:
The right side attacker role is up for grabs, and senior Dane Leclair and junior Kyler Kotsakis return from last season. Now in his second full season as an opposite, Leclair's most memorable match came last year when he notched 15 kills on .538 hitting in LUC's season-opening 3-1 win at No. 3 BYU. Kotsakis had a double-digit kill match of his own a week later when he picked up 11 in a four-set win vs. George Mason. Also competing for the starting job is freshman Luke Denton. After dominating the Arizona Boys Volleyball circuit and gaining invaluable experience at the NORCECA Men's U21 Continental Championship this past fall, Denton has an opportunity to prove his game translates to at the next level.
 
Middle Blockers:
The MB core starts with senior Paul Narup. The Ballwin, Mo. native registered 107 blocks last year to finish fourth in the single-season junior class record book. It's no secret that Loyola is faced with the tough task of replacing the production of a four-time AVCA All-American in Jeff Jendryk. The Ramblers went 8-1 last season in matches junior Kyle Piekarski appeared in, while Hulse's middles are rounded out with sophomore Thomas Kovanic, and newcomers Mike Herlihy, Joe D'Attomo and Danny Sutton Farrell.
 
Setters:
Sophomore Garrett Zolg is back for year two with the program after an outstanding rookie season. Zolg burst onto the men's volleyball scene by collecting AVCA All-America Honorable Mention nods, First Team All-MIVA and MIVA Freshman of the Year accolades. Junior Ian Cowen, who tallied 931 assists (9.31 per set) in 2017, will be called upon in reserve duty for Zolg.
 
Libero:
Senior Avery Aylsworth brings a plethora of experience to the back row in 2019. The San Jose, Calif. native shared the team lead with 214 digs last season (2.02 per set) and helped Loyola hold opponents to a .233 attack percentage in 2018 – a clip good for 14^th in the country. Junior Jake Freeman has appeared in 26 matches his first two years with the program, and makes Loyola one of four MIVA teams to have two upperclassmen liberos on the roster.
 
2018 Recap
Loyola posted a 23-7 record (11-3, MIVA) to share the regular season conference title. The Maroon and Gold went 12-5 against AVCA Top-15 teams, including a season-opening road win at No. 3 BYU. The early-season win set the tone for a successful season that saw the Ramblers make it all the way to the MIVA Championship for the first time in the Mark Hulse era. Loyola was well represented in the awards department, highlighted by AVCA First Team All-American Jeff Jendryk, as well as Mahan and Zolg's Honorable Mention nods. Zolg also became the sixth player in program history to take home MIVA Freshman of the Year.

#OnwardLU