MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team won its fifth straight Southern States Athletic Conference match on Saturday, taking down Faulkner in straight sets (25-15, 25-14, 25-17) on the road. The Wolf Pack is now 16-4 overall, which is the best record through 20 games in program history, and 7-1 in league play.
The Wolf Pack began the match strong with Simone Tyson serving. A quick 6-0 run started with Tyson and Emily Sheperis combining for a block, then Sheperis blocked another to make it a 3-1 lead. Tyson served an ace and a couple of errors by Faulkner pushed the Loyola lead to 7-1. Juliana Pacini, Amaya Bazemore and Emma Fahy got in on the action with their attacks, and Tyson notched another kill to make it a 14-4 lead. Simone Moreau served an ace, too, as the Wolf Pack continued to dominate the opening game.
Sheperis had two kills and two aces in the early going of the second set to give Loyola a 6-4 advantage. Ellie Connor's service game helped the Pack extend their lead to 13-6, as Preslie Boswell, Tyson and Fahy all recorded kills while Connor had an ace. Tyson then had back-to-back kills to keep the momentum on Loyola's side, 17-8, and Samantha Ingram tricked the Faulkner side for her second kill of the game, 20-11. Fahy ended the set with her third kill of the match.
The Eagles had their best start of the match in the third set, taking an early 4-1 lead. The hosts would take 8-3 and 10-4 leads before Loyola could battle back to jump ahead 14-13. Tyson had two kills during that comeback, and Moreau earned her second ace of the match to cut the deficit to 11-9. Pacini tallied consecutive kills to tie it at 13-all, then an ace by Tyson gave the Pack the lead. That was part of another 6-0 run that pushed the Loyola advantage to 16-13. Pacini's efforts down the stretch helped put the finishing touches on the match, as the graduate student had another kill and a service ace.
Next up for Loyola is a road trip to Georgia next weekend, taking on Point University on Friday and Life University on Saturday.
"Really proud of this win. We worked on some specific elements of our game this week in practice, and you could really see it come through during the match. That commitment to learning and growing, along with how this group challenges each other will take us far. The team continues to earn such strong hitting percentages, which goes back to some of those elements we worked in this week. But it also goes to show how well we're passing and playing defense. We're still a little plagued with missed serves but they are working hard to be aggressive at the service line."
Pack Facts
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Loyola is now 16-4 on a season, marking a new program-best record through the first 20 games of the season.
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This is Loyola's seventh straight victory against Faulkner, dating back to the 2021 season. The Wolf Pack's all-time record against the Lady Eagles is now 28-21.
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The Pack's hitting percentage of .422 for the match was its third-best of the year. The team has hit above .400 in its last four matches.
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Simone Tyson led the match with nine kills and just one error, her second match in a row with those numbers. She also contributed eight digs, three assists, three blocks, and two aces.
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The Wolf Pack middles were also efficient in attack, with Amaya Bazemore at eight kills and Emily Sheperis with seven, both only having one error for the match. Each also had three blocks.
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Reigning SSAC Setter of the Week Ellie Connor led all setters with 19 assists, with Samantha Ingram right behind her at 14 assists.
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Simone Moreau led the match with 15 digs. She also had four assists, two aces, and a kill.
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Overall the Wolf Pack servers combined for eight aces, their most in a match since September 2. Tyson, Moreau, and Sheperis each had two aces while Connor and Juliana Pacini had one.
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