In Short…
Loyola picked itself off the mat on numerous occasions on its way to a 3-2 victory on Friday night (Jan. 18) in front of a packed house in Gentile Arena. Many individual career highs were tied or broken, and the Ramblers had two players register double-doubles in the same match for the first time since Feb. 16, 2018 at Fort Wayne.
 
Coach Hulse's Thoughts
"[Pepperdine's] serve made it really tough for us to find a rhythm [in the first set]. We weren't really even playing volleyball – they had 17 points on nine swings, which is to say that as we started to find some rhythm and play, engage each other and embrace the crowd, we found our legs and it started to come together," head coach Mark Hulse said. "What a good match and what a good team in Pepperdine. We got them at the end. We played pretty well in that fifth set, and it was good enough to win."
 
How It Happened
Seniors Will Tischler and Collin Mahan lit up the scoresheet with a double-double each. Tischler tied his single-match career highs in kills (20) and digs (12) while Mahan set a new season high with 18 kills. The offensive production came via the steady hands of Garrett Zolg who registered 53 assists to tie his personal best in a match during his time in Rogers Park.
 
When the match began, the No. 5 team in the country showed exactly why they hold that spot in the first set. The last lead the Ramblers held was at 8-7 before an 8-1 run flipped the score and put the Waves well in front at 15-9. Two timeouts weren't enough to stop the attack, as Pepperdine led by as many as 10 through its hot stretch at 21-11. Loyola was credited with 3.0 team blocks later in the frame, but Pepperdine closed the door on any comeback hope quickly with a 25-17 set one win.
 
Looking to avoid going down 0-2, Loyola hung tough with the Waves and matched them punch for punch early in the stanza. PU looked poised to repeat the occurrences of the previous set with 3-0 and 4-0 runs, but the Ramblers never let the deficit get beyond three and stayed within striking distance. It payed immediate dividends due to a 3-0 run for the Ramblers tying things up at 20-20. Paul Narup and Tischler posted kills to help push its to set point, but Pepperdine delayed the celebration and forced extras. At the 24-24 mark, Narup and Tischler repeated the previous occurrence and tied the match up at one set apiece.
 
Loyola led from start to finish in the third set and worked its way to an 11-6 lead to take charge of the tempo. The pressure of .565 hitting made the difference in the blowout win, highlighted by five kills from Luke Denton. Denton's kills came in key moments, including one that gave the Ramblers their first seven-point lead of the set at 17-10. Later on, Mahan and Zolg followed suit with consecutive kills to re-establish the seven-point cushion at 21-14. Pepperdine made things interesting toward the end, but back-to-back kills from Denton and Tischler capped off the 15-kill set from Loyola and put them in the match lead at a 2-1 clip.
 
Pepperdine made it clear early that they wouldn't go down in four, opening up leads of 5-2 and 9-4. A back-to-back block sequence involving Narup and Mahan cut the deficit to 11-10, but the Waves countered with a 4-0 run and worked their way to a 17-11 lead. The gap was narrowed to three at 21-18, but the road team prevailed and forced a fifth set with a 25-22 win.
 
Needing a good start in the winner-take-all frame, Zolg delivered with an early ace that put the Maroon and Gold in front, 3-0. The Huntington Beach, California, native was at it again with his season-best fourth kill of the night to maintain an 8-6 lead when the teams swapped benches. Later on when Narup picked up a block solo style, the 11-7 lead gave Loyola all the momentum and allowed the squad the luxury of trading points to a 15-9 victory – the team's first five-set win of the season.
 
A Look at the Numbers
-Will Tischler's 20-kill match represented the first Rambler to notch 20 or more since Ben Plaisted had 25 (March 28, 2017 at Lewis).
-Holding down the middle blocker position, Paul Narup tallied season-highs in kills (10) and total attacks (19). It was Narup's first match of double-digit kills this season.
-The middle set was the only one of the match with no ties or lead changes. The Ramblers won, 25-17.
-The win was the program's first against an AVCA Top-5 team since Feb. 24, 2018 vs. No. 4 Ohio State.
 
Up Next
Loyola is back at it tomorrow night (Jan. 19) to face off against UC San Diego. The 7 p.m. tilt will be the first time since 2012 the Ramblers and Tritons have faced one another, and marks the first time ever they've squared off in Rogers Park. Loyola will have a chance to earn its 100th all-time win at Gentile Arena.