In Short…
In a back and forth battle, the Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team eventually fell to No. 3 BYU, 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 22-25, 16-25) at Gentile Arena on Friday night. 
 
Coach Mark Hulse's Thoughts
"We knew they were going to be a really good team," Hulse said. "We were prepared in the weeks ahead. I don't think we were looking ahead of last night but certainly the ones like this stand out on the schedule and I think the guys had their eye on it. I thought we were pretty good, we struggled to kill the ball but that's a lot on them (BYU). They put some good service pressure on us and they were pretty big and bad at the net, so they made us pretty uncomfortable. At the same time I thought structurally we looked pretty good, we did some of the things we wanted to do. We schedule teams like that for a reason."
 
How It Happened
Loyola took an early 4-2 lead in the first set after back-to-back kills from Kyler Kotsakis and Cole Schlothauer, only to have BYU pull away. The Cougars claimed a margin 14-10, the largest lead of the match so far.  Anton Frank came up big for the Ramblers with a kill and a block to close the gap to 14-12, but BYU gained a 22-16 lead. An Andrew Lyons ace and some BYU errors brought the Ramblers close, 23-22, but BYU prevailed in the first set, 25-22.

BYU struck harder in the second set, going on a 4-0 scoring run to move the Cougars ahead 9-5. But, the Ramblers bounced back with a 8-3 run to take the advantage, 13-12. After later tying the game up 17-all, the Ramblers held their lead 20-18 after two kills and an ace from Joslyn. BYU tied it again at 20 but kills from Ian Cowen, Denton, and a block from Schlothauer/Frank secured the win.

Similar to the rest of the match, the Cougars maintained control in the third set, going on a 4-0 scoring run to lead 13-7. Denton and Joslyn each had another kill to bring Loyola within two points at the game-point, but BYU took the decision, 25-22.

It continued to be an all out battle in the fourth set, as both teams continuously tied it up, but it all came to a hault when BYU went on an 8-0 scoring run. The Cougars hit a whopping .800 hitting percentage overall and took the set, 25-16.
 
A Look At The Numbers
- Cole Schlothauer and Devin Joslyn tallied 11 kills a piece, while Joslyn racked up a .409 attack percentage. 
- Luke Denton made his return well-known as he dished out six kills, six digs and three blocks.
- BYU led Loyola in all categories across the leader board and hit .800 percent in the fourth set.
 
Up Next
The Ramblers take the road next week to face UC San Diego on January 10 and No. 8 UC Irvine on January 11. Both matches will be played at 9 p.m. CT.