Loyola Volleyball gets bested by Bethel

Coming off a huge victory over Martin Methodist last night, the Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team looked to keep the momentum rolling as the squad welcomed Bethel to The Den on Saturday afternoon for a Southern States Athletic Conference showdown.

These two teams last met on September 30, with the Wildcats earning the 3-2 victory despite trailing the Wolf Pack 0-2 to start the match.

Saturday’s matchup would prove much more straightforward as Bethel managed to complete the sweep of Loyola 3-0 (25-19,25-19,25-19) inside The Den to take claim the season series, 2-0.

A kill from Malea Howie (SO/Greenwood, Ind.) gave the home team the 1-0 advantage to start the match before the Wildcats were able to put together a 4-1 run to take the lead at 4-2 early on. Up 10-7, the visitors went on to score the next six-straight points to push the cushion to 16-7 in the opening frame. Bethel was then able to orchestrate a 4-0 run late in the set to stretch the advantage to 24-17 before a Loyola service error would eventually give the Wildcats the opener, 25-19.

Set two featured another big Bethel run early on as the visitors used a 9-1 spurt to take the comfortable 17-8 advantage in the second stanza.  The Wildcats managed to hold Loyola off for the duration of the set and claimed the second frame 25-19 to go up 2-0 in the match.

Down 1-2 in the third, Loyola strung together back-to-back points  – thanks to a BU error and a kill from Tylar Beckham (SO/New Orleans, La.) – to grab the 4-2 lead to start the set.  Both teams exchanged the lead over the next handful of points until the scoreboard read 13-13 at the halfway point. Bethel scored the next three to go up 16-13 before a Beatriz Agosto (SO/Miami, Fla.) kill brought the Wolf Pack within two at 16-14.  A 5-2 Wildcats run put the visitors up 21-16 until an attack error by Bethel’s Daisy Liljenquist would end the run at 21-17. Beckham’s kill (23-18) would be the last offensive point for Loyola in the match as the Bethel was able to seal the win with an unassisted kill by Jessyca Watson.

Howie paced Loyola with seven kills while Sunni Blanchard (SO/Pierre Part, La.) (13) and Maddie Huekels (JR/Dyer, Ind.) (12) combined for 25 of Loyola’s 26 assists on Friday.  Helene Masone (FR/Destin, Fla.) led the Wolf Pack with 10 digs and Adelida Obioha (FR/New Orleans, La.)’s five total blocks were the most for the home team in the loss.

BU’s Jessyca Watson’s 13 kills were a match-high and she also led the Bethel defense with six total blocks on the day.

Loyola will continue SSAC action on Friday, October 27, when the team travels to Mt. Vernon, Georgia to battle Brewton-Parker at 6:00 p.m.