CHICAGO, Ill. (March 23, 2023)
 
In Short…
No. 9 Loyola (18-3, 9-1 MIVA) won its 12th straight home match to remain undefeated inside Gentile Arena this season following Thursday's 3-0 sweep over Lewis (13-10, 4-5 MIVA): 25-22, 25-20, 25-20. Parker Van Buren led a balanced attack with a match-high 14 kills (.393) while Nicodemus Meyer logged eight kills (.583) and four blocks.
 
How it Happened
The opening set proved the most competitive of the night, which featured 12 tied scores and five lead changes.
 
Loyola cooked up an early 11-8 lead after a Van Buren kill forced a Lewis timeout, as the redshirt sophomore logged half of his kills on the night in the first stanza. But the Flyers responded out of the break, gathering a quick 6-1 spurt and would end up grabbing the lead at 14-12.
 
From there, the teams went back and forth with the score eventually level at 19-19. A kill by Cole Schlothauer sparked late momentum as the Ramblers posted four consecutive points and closed out the first set on a Schlothauer block.
 
In the second set, Loyola never trailed after a Van Buren kill started things off. The Ramblers led by as much as four on several occasions, including a 15-11 lead after a kill by Jimmy Meinhart. Lewis pulled within two at 22-20, but Meyer took over and closed out the set with a kill and back-to-back blocks.
 
The Ramblers started strong in the final set, building up a 10-5 lead following a Schlothauer kill. But, the Flyers didn't go quietly and fought back to even the score at 17-17 off an ace, which forced a Loyola timeout.
 
After the stoppage, Dan Mangun's kill ignited the Ramblers' final push as the Maroon & Gold closed the match with an impressive 8-3 run. The match ended on another kill from Schlothauer, who finished with four in the third set and seven total kills in the match.
 
Christian Prayer led Lewis with 10 kills and nine digs on the night.
 
Inside the Numbers

• Loyola hit .520 in the third set and .375 (41-11-80) overall in the match
• Lewis recorded a hitting percentage of .154 – the second-lowest by a Loyola MIVA opponent this season
• Loyola totaled 13.0 team blocks compared to 7.5 on the Lewis side
• Mangun dished out 33 assists with four digs and career-high five block assists
• Five Ramblers had five or more kills: Van Buren (14), Meyer (8), Schlothauer (7), Meinhart (6), Yentz (5)

Up Next
Loyola will travel to Fairfax, Va. this weekend for a pair of non-conference matches against Princeton (Sat.) and George Mason (Sun.).