CHICAGO (March 4, 2023)
 
In Short…
No. 9 Loyola (14-2, 7-0) took down Purdue Fort Wayne (12-5, 3-4) in five sets Saturday night, 22-25, 25-21, 25-17, 21-25, 15-12, as the Ramblers improved to 7-0 in conference play and remained unbeaten (9-0) at Gentile Arena this season. Parker Van Buren tallied 20 kills and nine digs, while Cole Schlothauer and Colton Brooks recorded 17 and 11, respectively. Dan Mangun recorded a career-high 49 assists for the second straight match and third time overall this season.
 
It's the first 7-0 start in MIVA play for the Ramblers since the 2014 national championship season, and fourth overall in program history.
 
Saturday's win also marks the best start to a season inside Gentile Arena in program history. Loyola previously started 9-0 at home in 2010 (16-0 at home) and 2006 (17-1 at home) inside Alumni Gym.
 
How it Happened
After dropping the first set which included a match-high nine ties, Loyola bounced back to take the second and third frames in convincing fashion. The Ramblers led the fourth set 12-10 after a kill by Brooks, until Purdue Fort Wayne rallied with seven consecutive points, and led by as much as six, before Loyola tried to climb back. A triple block from Jimmy Meinhart, Dan Mangun and Brooks made the score 23-21 but the visitors held on for the final two points.
 
In the deciding set, Van Buren (6) and Schlothauer (4) combined for all 10 of Loyola's kills as the Ramblers outhit the Mastodons .409 to .333. Loyola never trailed in the fifth frame after jumped out to a 5-3 lead and fending off Purdue Fort Wayne's comeback attempt which included five tied scores.
 
After the fifth set was tied at 11-11, a kill from Schlothauer sparked a 3-0 run with a Van Buren kill and clutch service ace from Cooper Evans. Purdue Fort Wayne's Jon Diedrich put down a kill to make the score 14-12, before Schlothauer slammed the door with the final kill of the night.
 
Meinhart finished with seven kills and seven block assists, along with four kills and three block assists from Nicodemus Meyer.
 
Purdue Fort Wayne featured three players with double-digit kills, including Mark Frazier (12), Diedrich (11) and Bryce Walker (10). Walker had four aces for the Mastodons.
 
Inside the Numbers

• Loyola hit .321 overall including a match-best .565 in the third set
• Purdue Fort Wayne recorded a team hitting percentage of .198 while limited to -.048 in the third set
• The match featured 32 total tie scores and eight lead changes
• The Ramblers tallied 13.0 total team blocks while the Mastodons totaled 5.5
• Purdue Fort Wayne dished up 10 service aces compared to six from Loyola
• Van Buren registered his fourth outing with 20 or more kills – he's seven shy of 600 career kills
• Schlothauer is five kills away from 900 in his career
• Loyola won its second five-set match of the season (2-1)

Up Next
Loyola returns to Gentile Arena Tuesday night when it hosts Queens University of Charlotte (7-8), with first serve scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.