Loyola Volleyball improves to 5-0 inside The Den following 3-1 victory over Tougaloo

The Wolf Pack wins its fourth straight match and improves to 5-0 inside The Den following Wednesday’s non-conference win.

Looking to avenge a 1-3 defeat in Mississippi earlier in the season, the Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team welcomed non-conference opponent Tougaloo College to campus for a match inside The Den on Wednesday evening.

The Wolf Pack came into Wednesday’s contest riding a three-match winning streak and carrying a 4-0 record in home matches in 2017. Conversely, Tougaloo entered The Den on a program record six-match winning streak and having won nine of its last ten contests.

Loyola was able to put a stop to the rolling Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday thanks to some great individual efforts across the board. The home team used 10-plus kills by Allison Hartmann (JR/Slidell, La.), Adelida Obioha (FR/New Orleans, La.) and Malea Howie (SO/Greenwood, Ind.) – along with 20 assists by both Maddie Huekels (JR/Dyer, Ind.) and Sunni Rae Blanchard – to defeat the visitors 3-1 at home.

With the victory, Loyola improves to 10-7 overall behind a perfect 5-0 mark inside The Den. Tuesday’s loss halts Tougaloo’s win streak at six matches and drops the Lady Bulldogs to 10-7 overall heading into its match against the Mississippi University for Women on Friday evening.

The early moments of set one belonged to the Wolf Pack as the team raced out to a comfortable 22-10 advantage.  The visitors quickly bounced back with a 5-2 spurt to make the score 24-15 before a kill by Howie would seal the first victory for Loyola, 25-15.

Following a 23-25 defeat in set two, the Wolf Pack answered by jumping out to the 7-3 lead in the third frame. With the score knotted at 12, Loyola strung together five-straight points to retake the lead at 17-12. The home team was able to maintain the cushion for the remainder of the set and two Tougaloo errors paired with a kill by Hartmann sealed the 25-17 win for the Wolf Pack in set three.

Loyola looked to put the match away early in set four by racing out to the comfortable 5-0 advantage.  The Wolf Pack would be able to hold off the visitors for the duration of the set and the match ended with two kills by Howie to give Loyola the 3-1 victory at home.

Howie’s 12 kills led the Wolf Pack on Wednesday while Hartmann and Obioha each added 10 kills in the victory.  Helene Masone (FR/Destin, Fla.) paced the Loyola defense with 16 digs on the night and Hartmann locked down the net with five blocks.

Megan Besecker powered the Tougaloo offense with 12 kills on Wednesday and Alexandra Jwainat recorded a solid 21 assists and 16 digs in the defeat.

Loyola returns to action on Friday, Sep. 29, with road matches against Martin Methodist (5:00 p.m.) and Trinity International University (7:00 p.m.).