CHICAGO (February 15, 2021)
 
In Short
Visiting Evansville (3-5, 2-4 MVC) rallied from a 13-9 deficit in the fifth set to sneak past Loyola University Chicago (5-2, 4-2 MVC), 25-18, 20-25, 25-16, 20-25, 15-13, this afternoon at The Alfie Norville Practice Facility to hand the Ramblers their first loss in four outings at home in 2021. The loss also snaps the Ramblers' three-match winning streak overall.
 
How It Happened
Consecutive Melanie Feliciano kills midway through the opening set put Evansville out front to stay, at 14-12, and the Purple Aces closed the set on a 7-2 run to pull off a 25-18 victory. Led by eight kills from Alondra Vazquez, Evansville hit .295 (15-2-44) in the first set, its best mark of the match.
 
Loyola used a 7-1 spurt that included two kills apiece from Emily Banitt and Elle Van Grinsven, to erase a two-point deficit and claim a 15-11 lead it would never relinquish in set two. A Chloe Bontrager stop late in the set trimmed the Ramblers' advantage to 21-19, but Anna Feldkamp responded with a kill to spark a set-closing 4-1 run that gave Loyola a 25-20 victory and evened the match at a set apiece.
 
A 14-3 Aces run, which featured nine Loyola attack errors, spelled doom for the Ramblers in the third set, turning a 9-8 Loyola lead into a 22-13 deficit as Evansville breezed to a 25-16 victory.
 
Behind four kills from Van Grinsven and three from Sarah Murczek, Loyola darted out to a 16-6 lead in the fourth set and held off a late Purple Aces charge to capture a 25-20 decision that sent the match to a fifth set. 
 
In the fifth set, Murczek ripped a kill and Kayla Kraus served an ace to bookend a 4-1 spurt that snapped a 6-6 tie and put the Ramblers ahead, 10-7. That lead would expand to 13-9 on a kill from Banitt, and Loyola seemed to be in the driver's seat on the way to its fourth five-set victory in 2021. However, Evansville had other plans and a kill by Kate Tsironis sparked a string of six unanswered points that allowed the Aces to stun Loyola for a 15-13 win to take the match.
 
A Look at the Numbers

• Banitt picked up her fifth double-double of the year, producing a season-high 18 kills to go with 15 digs and a pair of aces for Loyola, which also received 13 kills and 12 digs from Murczek.
• Van Grinsven rounded out Loyola's crop of double-digit-kill performers, totaling 11, along with four blocks.
• Grace Hinchman continues to anchor the back row and dug a season-high 38 balls, the third-highest, single-match total in program history, and fellow rookie Jenna Appel handed off 50 assists and added 20 digs and four blocks.
• Vazquez (17) and Feliciano (15) combined for 32 of Evansville's 50 kills on the day.

 
Up Next
The Ramblers put a two-match road winning streak on the line when they travel to Indiana State for contests on February 21 and 22.