CHICAGO – In front of a rowdy home crowd, No. 7 Loyola Chicago took down No. 11 UC San Diego on Saturday, Jan. 31 inside Gentile Arena. The Ramblers picked up their second ranked win of the season. 

Loyola's offense was led by Aleksandar Sosa behind 20 kills on .359 hitting and Aidan Klein led the defensive effort with five blocks while posting a career-high 12 kills on a .733 clip. Alex Smits Van Oyen facilitated the offensive effort with 47 assists. Former Triton Josh Schellinger hit a season-high 19 kills. 

Coach Quote: Shane Davis 
"It was a great match. Both teams played really well and got a little streaky at times, but overall it was a really clean match from hitting efficiencies. The serving was decent and for a four set match, the defense was great. There were a lot of great plays across the board, a lot of great rallies, and it was a really fun match to coach, a little stressful at times, but a good match for the environment as well."

"They might've been going back and forth a little bit through the net, and I think that motivated, maybe sparked him [Aidan Klein] a little bit, and kind of poked the bear. We saw a little personality come out of AK, which we haven't really seen. Then set four, he's our first server, and he goes off and did an awesome job.That's the swagger we need out of a guy like that."

How It Happened 

SET 1 | Loyola secured the opening set 25-20, never letting up the lead and hitting above .500 in the frame. The Ramblers totaled 17 kills in the stanza, led by Sosa with seven. The Serbian native hit .778 in the set. Setter Smits Van Oyen queued up four different teammates throughout and piled up 14 assists. 

SET 2 | Set two stayed tight with both sides trading leads and staying within reach throughout. Schellinger kept finding the open space and led the set with seven kills while hitting .364. The Ramblers staved off two set points before falling 25-21 in the second.

SET 3 | Frame three was the closest yet, seeing 15 ties and seven lead changes. The Ramblers trailed by as many as four before tying it back up at 17-17 thanks to Klein's two-handed slam dunk then a Sosa spike. Fabikovic and Klein caught a big block to take the third set 25-22. 

SET 4 | Klein opened the fourth/final frame on a 9-0 run at the service line, highlighted by back-to-back aces, and Loyola never looked back. The Ramblers capped their uncontested streak with a block by Schellinger and Brad Bell. UC San Diego shaved Loyola's lead and eventually caught up at 19-18, but it was too late. Schellinger sealed the match with his 19th kill of the night.  

Inside the Box Score 

• Klein also matched his career-high four aces, which he set last night against Manhattan (Jan. 30). 
• Six different Ramblers put up stuffs at the net. 
• JJ Sowa had a season-high four assists. 
• Loyola improves to 6-1 in the all-time series with UC San Diego. 

Up Next 
Loyola hits the road to open conference play in a midweek matchup at Lindenwood on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m., followed by McKendree on Friday, Feb. 6 at 5 p.m.