CHICAGO (January 22, 2020) – Continuing their four game homestand, the Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team welcomes Charleston (W. Va.) and Urbana (Ohio) to Gentile Arena this weekend. The first match against the Golden Eagles (1-5) starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, followed by Saturday's match at 7 p.m. against the Blue Knights (0-6).
 
Last Time Out: The 12th-ranked Ramblers fell to No. 15 Penn State, 3-0, and No. 1 Hawaii, 3-1 last weekend at home. 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 Jan. 17. Cole Schlothauer continues to lead the Ramblers and the MIVA with 91 kills (.253 hitting percentage) this season. The outside hitter is second in the MIVA with 3.79 kills per set and third with 40 digs. Senior Kyle Piekarski made his return last weekend after suffering an injury in the offseason. The middle blocker combined for 13 kills over the weekend.
 
Scouting the Golden Eagles: Head coach Mike Iandolo enters his third year at the helm of the Golden Eagles, who finished 9-20 overall in 2019. Sophomore Lachlan Bray is leading UC with 57 kills and 10 aces this season and sits third in the EIVA in kills. Bray led the Golden Eagles with 14 kills, five aces and six digs in UC's 3-2 loss to Limestone on Saturday, Jan. 18. Freshman Andrew Klein also registered eight kills and 10 digs while junior Ian Barker posted seven kills and six digs in the match. Charleston captured its first win of the season against Erskine College on Jan. 17, also winning its first sets of the season after being swept by Hawaii (Jan. 3-4) and Princeton (Jan. 10-11) in back-to-back matches.
 
Scouting the Blue Knights: The Urbana men's volleyball team made its program debut on January 3, 2020, hosting its first ever match. Head coach Andrew Palmer became the first head coach of the Urbana men's volleyball program after serving as an assistant coach and interim head coach at Aurora University (DIII) where the Spartans finished 12-14 during its inaugural season. Freshman outside hitter Jack Brinkman is leading UU with 68 kills this season, while junior setter Chaz Hafer is leading in assists (185), aces (six) and digs (27). Freshman outside hitter Sam Hargett was named Independent Teams Player of the Week by Off the Block on January 6, after leading the Blue Knights with 11 kills on a .364 attack percentage. 

Series Stuff: Loyola has never played Charleston or Urbana and will meet both teams for the first time.

Up Next: George Mason hosts Loyola next weekend for matches against GMU on Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. CT and Barton on Feb. 1 at 4 p.m. CT.