Wolf Pack end the season with a 15-23 overall record.
The No. 7-seeded Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team looked to end the 2016 season on a high note as they took on No. 6-seeded Dalton State College in the final match of pool __play of 2016 Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Volleyball Championships.
Thanks to career days by Lindsay Ulfig (JR/Saline, Mich.) and Sunni Blanchard (FR/Pierre Part, La.), the Wolf Pack downed the Roadrunners 3-1 at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex to end the 2016 season with a 15-23 overall record.
The first set was about as close as it could have been as both teams battled to 14 ties throughout. With the match knotted at 26-26, back-to-back Loyola errors gave Dalton State the 28-26 victory to start the match.
Set two was nearly as close as the first, with neither team being able to build a lead larger than four points. In the final moments of the second set, the Wolf Pack used kills by Ulfig, Allison Hartmann (SO/Slidell, La.) and Malea Howie (FR/Greenwood, Ind.) (all assisted by Blanchard) to grab the set second 25-23 to knot the match at 1-1.
Loyola jumped out to the early 8-2 advantage in set three and never looked back en route to the 25-18 victory to take the 2-1 lead.
The fourth set saw Dalton State race out to a 7-2 lead to start. The Wolf Pack answered with an 8-2 run to retake the lead at 10-9. The Roadrunners took the 24-23 lead late and looked primed to steal the fourth set before an error on Anna Metzler knotted the match at 24-24. A Dalton State kill put the Roadrunners up 25-24 before a kill by Hartmann off an assist by Maddie Huekels (SO/Dyer, Ind.) tied the match up again, 25-25. The match would tie again at 26-26 before two back-to-back Dalton State errors sealed the 28-26 victory for the Wolf Pack.
Loyola notched a 0.222 (59-23-162) hitting percentage on Friday with 52 assists, 64 digs and six total blocks in the victory.
Ulfig led Loyola with a career-high 17 kills on 31 attempts off the bench, while Blanchard handed out a career-high 30 helpers to go along with nine digs against Dalton State. In her final match, Katie Philippi (SR/Metairie, La.) scooped up a match-high 21 digs and Hartmann collected 14 kills in the win. Huekels tallied a double-double with 13 assists and 11 digs, while Tylar Beckham (FR/New Orleans, La.) added seven kills and a team-high five blocks.
Anna Metzler had a huge match for Dalton State – putting up 19 kills and 20 digs in the loss.
