LEADING OFF 
Loyola Chicago (22-3, 13-3 MIVA) earned the No. 1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association tournament seed and will host the No. 8 seed Queens on Saturday, April 20 at 6 p.m. for the quarterfinals.  

QUICK HITS 

• In its regular season finale, No. 6 Loyola Chicago defeated then-No. 17 Ball State 3-1 to clinch a share of the regular season championship on Saturday, April 12 inside Gentile Arena. It marks the Ramblers' eighth overall regular season MIVA title.  
• Earlier this week, Parker Van Buren was named the MIVA Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, becoming just the second player in program history to do so and the third to claim four All-MIVA First Team roster spots.  
• Van Buren averaged 4.34 kills/set, the third best mark in the country and first overall in the league, recorded 5.12 points/set, ranking him fourth in the NCAA and No. 1 in the MIVA, and averaged a .410 hitting clip, good for 10th in the nation and third in the league.  
• Nicodemus Meyer, Ryan McElligott and Daniel Fabikovic joined Van Buren on the All-MIVA First Team which marked the first time four Ramblers made the all-conference first-team since 2018 and fourth overall in program history.   
• Meyer, who is No. 1 in the country and the conference in blocks/set (1.25), made his first career appearance on the first team after being selected to the second team the last two years. He leads Loyola in hitting percentage (.500) with 126 kills on 210 swings.  
• Starting setter McElligott earns his first ever roster spot on an All-MIVA team after leading the league all season in assists per set (10.83) which is good for third in the NCAA. 
• Fabikovic was named to the All-MIVA First Team for the second consecutive year after earning the MIVA Newcomer of the Year in his debut season. He averaged 3.37 kills per set on .317 hitting and 3.96 points per set, ranking him consistently in all three categories in the league's top 10 and in the nation's top 40.  
• Loyola finished the regular season as the league leader in 10 categories: points (17.60/set), hitting percentage (3.64), assists (12.41/set), kills (13.26/set), blocks (2.55/set), service aces (1.79/set), opponent hitting percentage (.224), opponent assists (10.35/set), opponent kills (10.87/set) and opponent service aces (0.97).  
• Head coach Shane Davis remains the winningest coach in program history with a 286-91 ledger and a .759 winning percentage.          

SCOUTING REPORT 
Queens finished second to last in the conference standings with an overall 10-19 ledger and a 2-14 record in league play. The Royals secured their only MIVA wins over Quincy and Purdue Fort Wayne. Rookie Carson Strawbridge leads Queens with 3.11 kills/set on .264 hitting while setter Cayden Martin is the offensive facilitator behind 8.86 assists/set. Defensively, Nathan Vaupel is the team leader in blocks (0.94/set) and Chance Shampine averages 1.75 digs/set.  

SERIES HISTORY 
Loyola is undefeated 6-0 in its series with Queens after sweeping the Royals twice in straight sets during the Ramblers' road trip to Charlotte, N.C. at the beginning of April. This marks the seventh all-time meeting between the two programs and first time ever that they'll meet in the conference tournament.  

FOLLOW THE ACTION  
Stream the match on ESPN+ and follow men's volleyball on Instagram and X @RamblersMVB for in-game updates.