NORMAL, Ill (April 1, 2021)
 
In Short
Taylor Venuto recorded a team-best 18 kills and added a career-high 10 blocks to help sixth-seeded Loyola University Chicago (10-8) hold off No. 3 seed Missouri State (15-7), 25-22, 25-17, 21-25, 21-25, 15-11 tonight at Redbird Arena in a quarterfinal match at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship. The win is the Ramblers' first conference tournament victory since November 16, 2012, when they took down Green Bay in the quarterfinal round of the Horizon League Championship.
 
How It Happened
After falling behind, 4-1, early in the opening set, Loyola strung together an 11-2 run, highlighted by three Taylor Venuto kills, to seize a 12-6 lead. The Bears chipped away at the deficit and scored four straight points to even the set at 19-19, but, two kills from Sarah Murczek were part of a set-closing 6-3 spurt that was punctuated by a kill from Emily Banitt, that gave the upstart Ramblers a 25-22 victory.
 
A 7-1 burst that included a kill and a pair of assisted blocks by Venuto early in set two gave Loyola control en route to a 25-17 decision and a 2-0 lead in the match. A hot-hitting Ramblers attack notched a .302 (17-4-43) attack percentage in the second set as five players totaled three or more kills in that set alone.
 
Two Loyola errors and a Brooklyn Cink kill broke a 12-12 tie and moved Missouri State ahead for good in an eventual 25-21 set-three win that kept the Bears alive. 
 
Missouri State put Loyola on its heels at the start of set four, darting out to a 12-5 advantage, but the resilient Ramblers mounted a comeback and closed within two points on four occasions, the last coming at 23-21, on another Venuto kill. The Bears held off that late surge though, and got kills from Azyah Green and Brooklyn Cink, to finish off a 25-21 win that forced a fifth and deciding set.
 
In the final set, an Elle Van Grinsven kill ignited a 7-2 Loyola run that gave the Maroon and Gold a 15-11 victory. Three Ramblers tallied kills in that decisive stretch and Venuto and Kelsey Watson teamed up to turn back a Bears attack on match point to give Loyola its first-ever MVC Championship victory.
 
A Look at the Numbers

• Venuto, who missed six matches due to injury earlier this season and returned to action March 7 by ripping a career-best 20 kills against Missouri State, torched the Bears again, this time going for 18 kills and 10 blocks, while hitting .318 (18-4-44).
• She was one of four Ramblers in double digits in the kill department, joining Banitt, who accumulated 15 kills, Sarah Murczek, who totaled 12 kills and 22 digs, and Watson, who collected 10 kills and five blocks.
• Watson has now clubbed 10 or more kills in three straight contests.
• Jenna Appel dished out 55 assists and Grace Hinchman notched 37 digs, one shy of her season high, and that total ranks as the fourth-highest single-match output in program history.

 
Up Next
Loyola will face No. 7 seed Northern Iowa in the MVC Championship semifinal round tomorrow at 5 p.m. CT. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.