CHICAGO (October 6, 2022) - Loyola wraps up a three-match road trip this weekend when it travels to Pittsburgh for a pair of matchups with Duquesne. The Ramblers enter Saturday's contest as one of two undefeated teams (Davidson) in Atlantic 10 Conference play and tied atop the league standings. Winner of three consecutive conference road matches, dating back to last season, when it competed in the Missouri Valley Conference, Loyola has captured nine of its last twelve regular-season conference contests away from home.
Dating back to the 2019 season, the Ramblers have won 17 of their last 20 (.850) matches during the month of October.
During its current five-match win streak, all in Atlantic 10 Conference play, Loyola is hitting .259 (286-106-696), 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.
This marks the third time in five seasons under head coach Amanda Berkley that the Ramblers have begun league play with five consecutive wins.
Since the start of the 2020-21 campaign, Loyola is 34-3 (.919) 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 8-1 in such contests.
Kelsey Watson is hitting .407 (13-2-27) with 1.43 blocks per set in the last two outings.
In Loyola's match at Tennessee on August 26, junior libero Grace Hinchman collected her 1,000th career dig, achieving the milestone in just her 52nd career match. Over the last three contests, she is tallying 4.40 digs per set, and last month she gathered a season-best 26 digs versus Rutgers. Hinchman had 38 digs against Evansville on February 15, 2021, the third-highest, single-match total in Loyola women's volleyball history. She has tallied 20 or more digs 28 times in her collegiate career and has totaled 1,244 digs in a Loyola uniform, a figure that ranks eighth in school history. Hinchman is playing after surviving a scary bout with febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES) this summer.
Scouting Duquesne
Duquesne has had a rough go this season and brings a six-match losing skid into this weekend's contests versus Loyola. The Dukes have stumbled in 11 of their last 13 outings overall and are a mere 1-4 at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse this season. Duquesne has been swept eight times already this year and is winless (0-5) in matches that have gone the full five sets. Loyola and Duquesne have met just one previous time in series history, a 3-0 Ramblers sweep on October 24, 1992 in Pittsburgh.
Freshman middle blocker/outside hitter Carsyn Henschen (2.80 kills per set) and senior outside hitter Morgan Kelly (2.75 kills per set) are leading a Duquesne attack that is hitting just .165 (720-358-2,194) as a team.
Up Next
Loyola is back at Gentile Arena, where it is 5-0 this season, next weekend (Oct. 14-15) when it hosts George Mason.
