Loyola earns first SSAC volleyball victory with sweep of Brewton-Parker

After sweeping Talladega College at home on Sunday, the Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team returned to The Den on Friday night to welcome Brewton-Parker to town for a Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) matchup.

Entering Friday’s contest, both squads eyed their first conference victory as both teams entered The Den at 0-2 in SSAC action to start the season.

The Wolf Pack was able to sweep the Barons on Friday thanks to a highly efficient offensive attack. The team recorded a season-best 0.368 hitting percentage to go along with 37 kills en route to the 3-0 victory (25-21,25-22,25-12) at home.

With the win, Loyola improves to 7-7 overall and 1-2 in the SSAC, while the Barons drop to 3-10 overall and 0-3 in conference affairs following the loss.

Brewton-Parker raced out to a 3-0 advantage to start the opening set before Loyola orchestrated a 6-3 run to take the 9-6 lead early in the frame. The visitors battled back to knot the game at 9-9 and then retook the lead at 10-9 following a kill by Autumn Beasley. The score would tie five times down the stretch before the Wolf Pack would be able to build a small cushion at 20-17.  With Helene Masone (FR/Destin, Fla.) serving, Loyola closed out the set on a 5-0 run to take the opening frame 25-16.

Set two proved to be the closest of the bunch as Loyola was unable to build a lead larger than four points. Down 22-18, the Brewton-Parker put together a 4-1 spurt to get within one at 23-22.  The Wolf Pack was able to hold off the charging Barons late and kills by Malea Howie (SO/Greenwood, Ind.) and Allison Hartmann (JR/Slidell, La.) would hand the home team the 25-22 victory.

Despite being down 0-2 to begin the third set, Loyola quickly bounced back and took complete control of set three. Up two (12-10), the Wolf Pack ended the set on an impressive 13-2 run to close out the Barons 25-12 and take the match 3-0.

Howie led all players with nine kills on Friday while Sunni Blanchard (SO/Pierre Part, La.) paced the Wolf Pack attack with 14 assists off the bench. Starting libero Masone notched a team-high 11 digs in the win and Beatriz Agosto (SO/Miami, Fla.) and Hartmann both tallied six kills.

The Barons’ Marina Dennis collected a match-high 21 assists in the loss while Autumn Beasley led the way with eight kills on Friday evening.

Loyola returns to The Den tomorrow, Sept. 23, when the team welcomes SSAC foe Middle Georgia State to campus for a match at 1:00 p.m.