Final Stats

CHICAGO, Ill. - With a four-set victory over Indiana State (16-25, 25-20, 25-23, 28-26) on Saturday, the Loyola University Chicago volleyball team has already matched last year's conference win total by improving to 5-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play. After leading the Ramblers with a career-high 17 kills in last night's victory over Illinois State, Amanda Cushen topped her performance by firing a match-high 21 kills tonight against the Sycamores. Morgan Reardon added double digit kills for the second straight match, posting 15 kills to go along with seven digs and two blocks, while Caroline Holt recorded a season-high 54 assists.

"We did a good job of making adjustments after the first set and focused on improving our first touches, the serve and pass game," Cushen said of the match. "We also reacted well in pressure situations. Over the weekend as a whole, we took the court with an aggressive mindset and focused on working as a unit."

The two teams traded points to open set one until Loyola scored five unanswered, including a pair of Cushen kills and a service ace from Gabi Maciagowski, to take an 11-5 lead. However, the Sycamores then rallied to score 10 of the next 11 points and take a 15-12 lead, forcing Loyola to use both timeouts during the stretch. Indiana State continued to rally out of the second timeout, scoring 10 of the final 14 points of the set to win it, 25-16.

Indiana State took an early 7-4 lead in set two to force a Loyola timeout, but the Ramblers rallied to score six of the next seven points behind a trio of kills from Sami Hansen, a Holt service ace and a Reardon kill to take a 10-8 lead. After a Sycamore timeout, back-to-back Reardon kills, followed by a kill from Brittany Brown, upped the lead to 13-8, forcing Indiana State to use its final timeout. The Ramblers maintained the steady lead behind kills from Cushen, Brown and Maureen Carls before back-to-back points, a Reardon kill and a service ace from Holt, increased Loyola's lead to 21-15. The Sycamores managed to pull within three points, but Loyola scored three of the final four points of the set to end it at 25-20 and tie the match at one set apiece.

The Ramblers raced out to a 7-2 lead to begin set two, as Brown, Cushen and Carls fired kills to go along with a Stephanie Kinane service ace and a Brown-Carls block. However, Indiana State rallied to score eight of the next 12 points and pull within one, forcing a Rambler timeout. The teams then battled back-and-froth until a three-point Loyola run, led by back-to-back kills from Cushen and Carls followed by an Alex Nunez service ace, gave the Ramblers a 17-15 lead. After the Ramblers increased the lead to five points, Indiana State managed to tie the set the 23-23, but back-to-back kills from Cushen ended set three, 25-23, to give Loyola the overall 2-1 lead.

Loyola scored the first four points of set four, including two kills and a block from Brown, before Indiana State managed to tie the score at 6-6. The teams then traded points until Indiana State put together a four-point run of its own, forcing a Rambler timeout. After battling back-and-forth, Loyola scored three straight points on a kill and an ace from Carls, along with a Reardon block, to take a 19-18 lead and force Indiana State to use a timeout. The Ramblers continued the rally out of the timeout, scoring four straight points on a pair of service aces from Carls and a Reardon-Hansen block, to up the score to 23-18. However, the Sycamores scored the next six points to take a 24-23 lead, and the two teams battled back-and-forth until the Ramblers put together a three-point run to claim set four, 28-26.

Loyola hits the road next weekend for a pair of key conference matches, squaring off against Missouri State on Oct. 16 before facing Wichita State on Oct. 17.