Boxscore 

CHICAGO (November 15, 2019)
 
In Short
Quinn Spieker totaled 16 kills and 16 digs to help Loyola University Chicago (20-8, 13-2 MVC) outlast Bradley (13-13, 9-6 MVC), 20-25, 25-17, 25-17, 23-25, 15-8, tonight at Gentile Arena for its 20^th win of the season. The Ramblers, who extended their win streak to six matches, also clinched no worse than the No. 2 seed at the Missouri Valley Championship, which will be held November 28-30 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
 
How It Happened
Hitting .286 (10-2-28) for the set, Bradley sprinted out to a 5-1 lead in the opener and never looked back on the way to a 25-20 victory to start the match. An Addie Barnes kill brought Loyola within 12-9, but the Braves then proceeded to go on a 6-2 run to open up an 18-11 lead and seal the outcome.
 
Loyola grabbed hold of the lead for good in set two on a Quinn Spieker kill for a 5-4 advantage. Clinging to a 14-12 edge later in the set, Taylor Venuto opened up a 6-1 spurt with a kill then added another and combined with Barnes on a block to extend the Ramblers' lead to 20-13 on their way to a 25-17 win to knot the match at a set each.
 
Riding that momentum from the win in set two, Loyola came out on fire in the third set, building an early 7-2 edge on the strength of a pair of blocks. Bradley chipped away at the Ramblers lead, but once it got within 11-10, the Ramblers scored five of the next six points, the last coming on a Kayla Kraus ace, to extend their advantage to 16-11. From that point on, the Braves were unable to get closer than three points as Loyola picked up another victory by the score of 25-17 to move ahead in the match, two sets to one.
 
Back-to-back kills from Spieker, and another from setter Katie Mather, broke a 20-20 stalemate to give Loyola a seemingly comfortable 23-20 advantage late in the fourth set. However, the Ramblers were unable to apply the finishing blow, allowing the Braves to rip off five unanswered tallies, two on kills from Hannah Thompson, for a 25-23 decision that forced a fifth set.
 
With the score knotted up at 2-2 in set five, Heather Kocken crushed a kill and following a Bradley error, Elle Van Grinsven turned away a Rachel Pranger attack attempt to give Loyola a 5-2 advantage and the lead for good. The Ramblers would build their lead to as many as six (11-5) before the final margin, and after Bradley cut the deficit to 12-8, the Maroon and Gold strung together three straight scores to complete a 15-8 victory.
 
A Look At The Numbers

• With the win, Loyola, which recorded only five victories as recently as 2017, notched its 20^thwin in a milestone season. This marks the program's first 20-win campaign since 2015.
• The Ramblers also equaled the program record for conference wins (13), regardless of league affiliation, with tonight's victory. The 2001 and 2002 Loyola teams each won 13 Horizon League contests.
• Loyola has now prevailed in 17 of its last 20 matches and has won each of its last four contests that have gone five sets.
• In addition to Spieker's solid performance, Loyola also benefited from 12 kills and 10 digs from Barnes and 11 kills and five blocks from Kocken. 
• Maddy Moser chipped in 26 digs and five assists, with Venuto adding nine kills and five rejections.
• Van Grinsven did her part to contribute to the win, racking up eight kills and seven blocks, and Delilah Wolf accumulated 30 assists, four kills, four digs and a pair of blocks.
• Thompson and Pranger each tallied 15 kills for Bradley.

Up Next
Loyola will honor its senior class of manager Ally Van Dellen, student assistant coach Anna Fluent, Allison Watson, Amanda Cushen, Olivia Whittingham, Heather Kocken, Delilah Wolf, Quinn Spieker and Maddy Moser following tomorrow's 5 p.m. match versus Illinois State at Gentile Arena.