CHICAGO (March 30, 2021) - The final series of the 2021 regular season has a lot riding on it as No. 10 Loyola University Chicago (13-3, 9-3 MIVA) hosts No. 5 Lewis (15-2, 10-2 MIVA). The Ramblers, who are 6-1 at home this season and have won five straight matches overall, need to win both contests versus the Flyers to claim the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) regular-season crown. At 13-3 overall, Loyola is off to its best start through 16 matches since 2019, when it began the year with a 13-3 ledger.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MIVA schedule was altered this season and teams played both matches against the same team in the same city on back-to-back days as opposed to the traditional home-and-home set-up. In the first match of those MIVA series, when it has played teams on consecutive nights (not counting the Purdue Fort Wayne series), Loyola has hit a whopping .352 (208-60-432) as a team.

This weekend's matches will be the Ramblers' third and fourth contests of the season versus nationally ranked foes. Two weeks ago, Loyola swept a two-match series from then-eighth-ranked McKendree, and those victories were the program's first over a team ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I-II Poll since an April 17, 2019 decision over Purdue Fort Wayne (3-1).

Dating back to last season, the Ramblers have prevailed in eight of the last 10 matches played on their home floor.

Last Saturday's four-set win at Ball State was the 100th coaching victory for Mark Hulse, who is in his sixth season at the helm of the Loyola program. Hulse is the third head coach in program history to reach the century mark in wins with the Ramblers, joining Shane Davis (265 wins from 2004-15) and Gordon Mayforth (134 wins from 1996-2002).

Loyola – Lewis – The Series

Longtime local rivals Loyola and Lewis are meeting for the 63rd time in a series that goes back to 1996. The Ramblers have stumbled in seven of the last nine meetings with the Flyers, and have dropped four straight. Prior to that recent nine-match stretch however, Loyola had claimed nine of the previous 11 matchups between the teams. Although the Ramblers are 17-10 all time against the Flyers in Rogers Park, Lewis has captured three of the last four encounters in Chicago. When the teams last met, on February 29 last year in Romeoville, Jake Maffett totaled seven kills, but Loyola couldn't stop Ryan Coenen (19 kills) or Lewis in a 3-0 defeat.

Scouting Lewis

Lewis enters this weekend's series on a seven-match winning streak and has it has claimed 10 of its last 11 contests, with the lone setback being a four-set loss to then-No. 13 McKendree on February 26. The Flyers have won five of their six true road matches this season, with the only blemish coming in a 3-1 loss at Ohio State on February 5. Lewis fields a potent attack spearheaded by senior outside hitter Ryan Coenen (.344, 4.47 kills, 1.47 digs, 0.78 blocks per set), redshirt senior middle blocker Tyler Mitchem (.520, 2.78 kills, 1.31 blocks per set) and senior outside hitter Kyle Bugee (.332, 2.78 kills, 1.68 digs per set).

Up Next

Loyola will open MIVA Tournament play with a quarterfinal match on April 10.