CHICAGO (October 3, 2022) - Loyola opens up a stretch that will see it play five of its next seven matches away from home when it visits Saint Louis Tuesday evening. The Ramblers enter the contest as one of the hottest teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference, having won a season-best, four consecutive matches. For the fourth time in five seasons under head coach Amanda Berkley, Loyola has commenced conference play with at least four straight wins. 

Dating back to the 2019 season, the Ramblers have won 16 of their last 19 (.842) matches during the month of October.

During its current four-match win streak, all in Atlantic 10 Conference play, Loyola is hitting .271 (243-87-575), and its .333 attack percentage (59-16-129) in a sweep of Fordham on September 30 was its best since posting a sizzling .478 mark (48-4-92) in a victory over St. Thomas on September 9.

Sophomore setter Bree Borum, a transfer from Florida Gulf Coast, has fit in seamlessly in her first year with the Loyola program and over the last three outings, is hitting .429 (17-2-35) with 1.55 kills, 4.55 digs, 12.73 assists and 0.45 service aces per set. She has notched a team-high six double-doubles this season and in a September 24 victory at George Washington, she totaled career bests of 19 digs and 59 assists. On Saturday, she tallied nine kills in a sweep of Fordham, falling one kill shy of her first career triple-double (9 kills, 18 digs, 33 assists). Her sister, Josi, is a senior on the Youngstown State volleyball team. Her twin sister, Brooklyn was a 2021 ACC All-Freshman Team selection at Virginia and her oldest sister, Jailyn, played at Illinois Springfield.

Loyola junior Kelsey Watson, who is hitting .344 (15-4-32) in her last two appearances, will face off Tuesday against her former high school teammate, Jillian Mattingly. The duo played together at Cor Jesu Academy in suburban St. Louis.

Since the start of the 2020-21 campaign, Loyola is 33-3 (.917) when winning the first set of a match. Last season, the Ramblers posted an 18-1 (.947) ledger in matches when they captured set one and this season are 7-1 in such contests.

Karlie McNabb returned to action on September 30 against Fordham after missing the previous eight matches. The junior outside hitter tallied 5.00 kills and 2.00 digs per set in two matches against the Rams over the weekend and earlier this year, she ripped a career-high 19 kills at Michigan. Over her last five appearances, McNabb is contributing 3.72 kills and 2.06 digs per set, while hitting .249 (67-21-185).

Scouting Saint Louis

Saint Louis has won eight of its last ten matches and, like Loyola, carries a four-match win streak into Tuesday's contest. Five of the Billikens' 12 victories this fall have come in matches that have gone the full five sets. Although it is only 5-3 at home this season, Saint Louis has claimed four of its last five outings at Chaifetz Pavilion.

Loyola and SLU are meeting for the 18th time in series history and the Ramblers have won three of the last four matchups and own an 11-6 edge in the all-time series. Loyola is 4-1 all time against the Billikens in St. Louis. Junior outside hitter Emily Henken leads SLU with 2.93 kills per set and adds 2.21 digs per set. Middle blocker Jillian Mattingly tops the A-10 in hitting percentage (.380), while Loyola's Taylor Venuto ranks second in that category (.369).

Up Next

Loyola travels to Duquesne for a two-match series, October 8 and 9.