AMES, Iowa -- Loyola Chicago battled Northern Iowa to five sets before falling to the Panthers in a nail-biting tiebreaker set on Saturday, Aug. 28 at the Cyclone Invitational. Sophomore Leyna Nguyen led the Ramblers with a double-double, recording 10 kills and 11 digs on the day while Katie Scherer, also a second-year, added the match-high 16 kills.
Junior Jae Fitting led defensively with the match-high 24 digs and senior Avary DeBlieck racked up seven blocks, another match high.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Ramblers found themselves in an early deficit, dropping the first set 25-22, after the Panthers took the advantage for good at 17-16 in a set that was tied up 10 times. Sophmore Katie Scherer led the Ramblers with five kills.
SET 2 | Loyola responded with a 25-17 victory in set two, taking a lead at 7-6 and never looking back. The Ramblers' front row had a solid performance, blocking four Panthers' attacks in the stanza and capitalizing on 11 UNI attacking errors.
SET 3 | The Ramblers won two straight to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Scherer led the way once again with four kills on above .500 hitting while DeBlieck and Henry had two blocks assists apiece.
SET 4 | The Panthers went on to force a fifth set with a dominant 25-8 fourth-set victory.
SET 5 | In a back-and-forth tiebreaker, that saw five lead changes and 10 tied scores, UNI pulled out a 16-14 victory. Neither side led by more than two points in the set.
Inside the Box Score
- Three Ramblers recorded double-digit digs: Fitting (24), Sam Falk (12) and Nguyen (11).
- Fitting added the match-high three aces in the loss.
- Senior setter Emma Henry helped the attack with a team-high 31 assists.
Up Next
Loyola closed out the Cyclone Invitational against Georgia Tech tomorrow, Sunday, April 29.
