LEADING OFF 
Loyola Chicago opens conference play against VCU in a two-match series at Gentile Arena on Friday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 26 at 1 p.m. 

QUICK HITS 

• Loyola fell in five sets in both of its Chicago Cup contests last week, battling UIC at home (Sept. 17) before stumbling at DePaul (Sept. 18).  
• Sophomore outside hitter Leyna Nguyen continues to pace the Ramblers' offense; she finished with 24 kills against the Flames and recorded her third double-double of the season at DePaul behind 21 kills and 14 digs. Through the first 10 games, she averaged 4.23 points/set and 3.83 kills/set.  
• Junior outside Claire Van Den Herik also got in on the action against UIC, recording a career-high 14 kills on .250 hitting and adding three blocks. Her junior counterpart, setter Mya Ball, dished out 50 assists in each Chicago Cup match. She averages 9.68 assists/set overall.  
• Defensively, the middle blockers tandem of senior Avary DeBlieck and junior Mallory Bohl lead the way. Bohl (1.03 blocks/set average) posted eight blocks against UIC while DeBlieck (1.19 blocks/set average) recorded a season-high eight stops at DePaul.  
• Multiple Ramblers rank in the A10's statistical leaders: DeBlieck second in blocks/set and Bohl is 7th (1.03), Ball second in assists/set (9.68) and eighth in service aces/set (.34), Nguyen third in kills/set and fourth in points/set and junior libero Sam Falk sixth in digs/set (3.29). 
• Loyola returned nine letterwinners and added seven new faces, including three freshmen (Tenley Davis, Camryn Hughes, Anna Jirmasek) and four transfers (Ball, Bohl, Morgan Jones, Katie Scherer).      
• Amanada Berkley enters her ninth season at the helm of the program, holding a 156-100 (.609) record.   

SCOUTING REPORT 
VCU is 2-6 overall heading into Atlantic 10 play. Senior middle blocker Nina Boledovicova paces the Rams' offense with 2.38 kills/set while hitting .311 and leads their net presence with 27 total blocks (.84/set). Junior libero Kayla Foley anchors with 3.16 digs/set, good for seventh in the league, and setter Cansin Sendir dishes out 8.28 assists/set, placing her fifth in the A10. The Rams were picked to finish third in the A10 Preseason Poll after a runner-up finish in the conference tournament last season.  

SERIES HISTORY 
The Ramblers lead the all-time series 8-3 with the Rams. Last season, the teams split the two-match regular season series in Richmond, Va. before Loyola returned to VCU for the A10 Tournament and defeated the host team in five sets to capture back-to-back championship titles.  

FOLLOW THE ACTION 
Stream the series on ESPN+. Follow @RamblersWVB on Instagram and X for in-game updates.