CHICAGO (January 9, 2023)

In Short…
The John Hawks era got off to a strong start as No. 12 Loyola recorded a 3-0 sweep over Missouri S&T in Monday's season opener at Gentile Arena, defeating the Miners 25-17, 25-17, 27-25. The Ramblers featured seven different players with at least four kills, led by Parker Van Buren, Colton Brooks and Jack Yentz each with five. Dan Mangun dished out 17 assists while Matt Oakley tallied a team-high seven digs. The Ramblers have earned a victory in four consecutive home openers.
 
How it Happened
Playing their first match in school history, the Miners came out swinging and grabbed an early 9-6 lead in the opening set following a pair of aces from Nate Meyer, who totaled eight aces on the night. The Ramblers quickly bounced back to even the score at 9-9 on a kill by Van Buren, who logged all five of his kills in the first stanza, but were forced to claw their way back and eventually regained the lead 13-12 on Mangun's ace. Loyola found momentum in the late stages of the opening set, closing on an 11-4 run with a kill by Cole Schlothauer to end it.
 
The second set was more of the same as Loyola started slow, but overcame an early two-point deficit and built a 15-12 lead on Schlothauer's kill before the media timeout. Missouri S&T stayed within three with the score 18-15 before the Ramblers gained steam to close out the frame on a 7-2 spurt. Back-to-back kllls from Brooks and Josh Gottlieb ignited the late push before Brooks, who led with four kills in the set, put down the final point.
 
In the final set, the Ramblers jumped out to a 5-1 lead and moved ahead 12-7 on a kill by Gottlieb. However, the visitors fought back to even the score at 14-14, and led 18-15 after Meyer got hot from the service line. He was credited with six consecutive points, including five straight aces before a Justin Ross kill stopped the run.
 
Loyola tied the score back up at 18-18, before a dramatic back-and-forth finish with neither team leading by more than a point the rest of the way. Missouri S&T had two set point opportunities, but a kill from Yentz and two errors by the visitors set the Ramblers up for a match-clinching ace delivered by Ross. Yentz logged all five of his kills in the final set.

Aaron Sallade led the Miners with eight kills, followed by seven from Meyer and six by Caleb Rohlwing.
 
Looking at the Numbers

• Loyola hit .369 overall and posted an impressive .600 hitting percentage in the second set
• Missouri S&T recorded an overall team hitting percentage of .125
• The Ramblers totaled seven blocks with Nicodemus Meyer leading with 2.5, compared to two total from the Miners
• Loyola tallied seven aces with Gottlieb posting a team-best two points off the serve
• The match featured 10 lead changes and 25 tied scores overall

Up Next
Loyola will host King (TN) Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. CT, with the match airing live on ESPN+. It'll be the first match of a back-to-back before UC San Diego visits Gentile for Friday's 7 p.m. CT start time.