Loyola heads to Houston on Saturday to take part in the UST Labor Day Tournament hosted by the University of St. Thomas.
Looking to keep the momentum of a 3-0 weekend rolling, the Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team returned to First NBC Court on Tuesday evening to host the University of St. Thomas (TX) and Xavier University (LA) in a tri-match.
The Wolf Pack earned a split on Tuesday, defeating St. Thomas 3-1 (25-23,20-25,25-20,25-21) before dropping a 1-3 decision (25-21,23-25,21-25,25-27) to Xavier.
Following Tuesday's action, Loyola is now 4-5 overall.
Match One: Loyola 3 – St. Thomas 1
Despite the 3-1 Wolf Pack win, the first match of the day was statistically close. Loyola won the kills battle (50-47) and held the slight hitting percentage edge (0.167-0.129), while the Celts collected six aces compared to three and scooped up six more digs than their opponents (63-57).
Allison Hartmann (SO/Slidell, La.) continued to dominate around the net in match one, collecting a career-high 19 digs to surpass her previous record (15) that she set at home on Saturday. Hartmann also was huge on the defensive end, swatting six blocks to lead the Wolf Pack. Maddie Huekels (SO/Dyer, In.) handed out 21 assists to pace the offense to go along with 10 digs to complete the double-double. Off the bench, Kaitlynn Watson (FR/South Lake Tahoe, Ca.) recorded a team-high 16 digs, while Sunni Blanchard (FR/Pierre Part, La.) gave out 15 assists and five digs in the victory.
Carissa Moran led St. Thomas with 12 kills and Lauren Fernandez-Miller chipped in 15 assists and 12 digs in the loss.
Match Two: Xavier 3 – Loyola 1
Loyola's second match proved to be another close one statistically, with neither team holding a large advantage in any one category. The two teams were dead even in aces (5-5), digs (59-59) and assists (47-47).
Hartmann and Tyler Beckham each tallied 12 kills to lead the Wolf Pack and Blanchard added a career-high 22 helpers in the loss. Huekels handed out 18 assists and collected 10 digs to earn her second double-double of the day.
Loyola finished the second match hitting at a 0.188 clip with 25 errors on 154 attack attempts.
Juliana Tomasoni paced the Gold Nugget attack with 15 kills and Tiffany Phillips distributed a game-high 26 assists in the win.
The Wolf Pack hit the road this Saturday, September 3, to take part in the two-day UST Labor Day Tournament hosted by the University of St. Thomas. Video and statistic links for each of Loyola's four matches in Houston can be found at www.loyolawolfpack.com
