Boxscore
CHICAGO (November 16, 2019)
In Short
Kaylee Martin recorded a match-high 25 kills to lead Illinois State (17-11, 10-6 MVC) to a 25-16, 23-25, 27-25, 25-20 victory over host Loyola University Chicago (20-9, 13-3 MVC) tonight at Gentile Arena and in the process put a damper on the Ramblers' Senior Night festivities, while also halting their win streak at six matches.
How It Happened
Two kills from
Taylor Venuto and an ace from
Maddy Moser were part of a 5-2 spurt that opened the first-set scoring and gave the Ramblers an early lead. But later, a 6-1 Illinois State run turned a one-point lead edge into a 16-12 deficit and Loyola was unable to climb out of that hole in suffering a 25-16 defeat.
In set two, an
Addie Barnes kill got the dominoes falling in a string of five unanswered points that snapped an 8-8 stalemate and put Loyola ahead, 13-8. That lead would stretch to as many as six (15-9) before the Redbirds scratched their way back into the set. Loyola was in possession of a 23-20 advantage late, but three consecutive ISU scores knotted the proceedings at 23 before a Redbirds error and another Barnes kill allowed the Ramblers to escape with a 25-23 victory to even the match.
Set three featured all kinds of momentum changes and delivered an exciting, albeit disappointing, ending for the Maroon and Gold. Loyola was serving set point on a pair of occasions, but couldn't administer the knockout blow, and ISU made the Ramblers pay by running off the final three points of the set to capture a 27-25 win.
That loss in set three seemed to take the wind out of Loyola's sails at the outset of set four as Illinois State stormed out to a 12-4 lead before Loyola picked itself up off the mat to make things interesting. Three kills from Barnes were a critical part of an 8-3 Loyola run that whittled the deficit down to 15-12, but Illinois State countered that punch with five unanswered points of its own to build its lead back to 20-12. Loyola went down swinging however, scoring three straight points moments later to turn a five-point hole into a 22-20 deficit, but that was as close as the Ramblers could get in a 25-20 setback.
A Look At The Numbers
- Barnes, who was the only Rambler with 10 or more kills this evening, picked up her 17thdouble-double of the season, producing a team-high 14 kills along with 10 digs.
- Freshman setter Katie Mather also recorded a double-double, delivering 20 assists and 11 digs, while redshirt senior Heather Kocken cracked eight kills in her final regular-season appearance at Gentile Arena.
- Venuto chipped in seven kills and seven blocks for Loyola, which also received 19 digs and eight assists from redshirt senior Maddy Moser.
- Martin was a workhorse for the Redbirds, tallying 25 kills on 52 swings, and she accounted for eight kills each in sets two and four.
Up Next
Loyola closes out the regular season next weekend with matches at league-leading UNI (Nov. 22) and Drake (Nov. 23).
