In Short
The Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team snatched its first win of 2020 on opening night at Gentile Arena, defeating King, 3-1. Loyola won the first two sets before King came back to take the third. Redshirt Freshman Cole Schlothauer posted a career-high 17 kills, eight digs and two aces to lead the Ramblers to victory.
 
Coach Mark Hulse's Thoughts
"It was awesome in that a bunch of guys got to play collegiate volleyball for the first time," Hulse said. "It was a different look. The guys have been battling and working really hard for months now - certainly the last six to seven days here, since we got back in August, last year and a few years before that for some of them. It's a few different faces, so we're figuring out exactly how we're going to play. But, we're going to play hard, we're going to play fast and we're going to play together. It's the same stuff we've been doing for a long time, so it was cool to see a couple different faces and see some guys thriving on the court against a pretty good King team that battled and got better as the night when on."
 
How It Happened
The first match of the season for both teams resulted in a lot of back and forth action during the first set and for a larger part of the game. After being down 9-8, the Ramblers were able to pick up some momentum and start a 5-0 run. King eventually answered with a kill, but a Devin Joslyn slam followed by another kill from Kyler Kotsakis pushed the Ramblers as they scored six straight to make the score 19-10. Loyola won the set, 25-14.

In the second set, Loyola posted a .480 attack percentage and continued to push straight past the Tornado, who again started with an early 6-5 lead. Back-to-back aces from Joslyn gave the Ramblers an advantage as they scored six straight points and captured a 11-7 lead. Loyola won the set, 25-17 after seeing kills consistent kills from Anton Frank, Kotsakis, Schlothauer and Joslyn. 

King battled hard for a comeback in the third set despite being down 9-4 at the start. They continued to close the gap until the score was tied 17-17 and they snatched the lead. The Ramblers only posted six kills in the third set and despite trading points, King caught up and won the set 25-22.

The Tornado took control of the fourth set at first, taking an 11-7 lead, but Schlothauer began to put an end to it all, notching multiple kills and an ace to tie it up 15-15. The outside hitter recorded 10 kills total to guide the Ramblers to a 25-21 set victory.

A Look At The Numbers
- Cole Schlothauer led the Ramblers with 17 kills (.441 attack percentage), two aces and eight digs. 
- Ian Cowen dished out 36 assists and five digs.
- Devin Joslyn tallied 12 kills, five digs, four aces and one block.
- Loyola posted a .480 attack percentage in the second set.

Up Next
The Ramblers host No. 3 BYU tomorrow at Gentile Arena. Start time is 7 p.m.