In Short
The Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team snatched the first set before being stymied by No. 1 Hawaii in the final three sets. Loyola is only the second team to win one set over Hawaii after No. 5 Lewis won the first set over the Rainbow Warriors on January 17. Loyola moves to 1-5, while Hawaii advances to 7-0.

Coach Mark Hulse's Thoughts
"It's kind of like a mixed bag of emotions on one hand," Hulse said. As a staff, we're really happy with our response, just the way we played volleyball. Not talking about the x's and o's or the technical stuff, just the way we competed was night and day different from last night. We didn't take care of business, so that part, we're mad about, but we're in this process and we're just trying to get better, we're trying to compete really hard the whole time, we're getting better, we're competing hard, we need to do it more consistently, and we have to be a little sharper. Obviously, tip of the hat to Hawaii, that's a really, really good volleyball team, but it's always a bummer going home when you think that you maybe left a little bit on the bone."

How It Happened
Redshirt freshman outside Cole Schlothauer, sophomore Luke Denton and junior Devin Joslyn led the way for the Ramblers in kills, guiding Loyola to a .379 hitting percentage in the opening set. Denton's career-high 14 kills propelled the Ramblers, starting with a big kill to tie it up 4-4 early on. Blocks from redshirt freshman Danny Sutton Farrell and Schlothauer gave the Ramblers a 10-8 lead that only got larger when Denton snagged an ace to make it 15-12 Loyola. Joslyn later came up with a big kill to put the match to game point and Schlothauer launched it down one final time to give Loyola the opening set, 25-22.

Loyola nearly captured the second set, hanging strong with the Rainbow Warriors and eventually taking the lead, 20-17 and forcing a Hawaii timeout. Hawaii posted five kills and went on an 8-3 run to comeback for set two, 25-23. The Rainbow Warriors had possession the majority of the third set, extending it to 17-10 despite a couple kills from senior Kyle Piekarski. The Ramblers struggled to come back, closing the gap to as low as four before losing the third, 25-20. 

The Ramblers snatched a 12-8 lead on three consecutive kills from Schlothauer, Joslyn and Denton in set four, forcing a Hawaii timeout. The Rainbow Warriors responded, going on a 4-0 run to tie it 14-14. The teams continued to exchange side-outs before Hawaii stole the victory away from Loyola, 27-25.
 
A Look At The Numbers
- Luke Denton recorded a season-high 14 kills.
- Taylan Cook registered a career-high five digs.
- As a team, Loyola hit .316, compared to Hawaii's .367 percentage. 
- Denton and Anton Frank combined for four aces, while Piekarski, Farrell and Schlothauer combined for eight blocks.
- Ian Cowen approached his career-high, notching 48 assists.
 
Up Next
Loyola welcomes University of Charleston (Jan. 24) and Urbana University (Jan. 25) to Gentile Arena next weekend for two 7 p.m. starts.