Loyola volleyball goes 1-1 in first day at Southwestern Tournament

Posted: October 30, 2009 for Women's Volleyball

Georgetown, Texas - The Loyola University New Orleans volleyball team played two matches on Friday in the Southwestern Tournament, losing the first to Austin College 3-0 (18-25, 13-25, 17-25), and knocking off Huston-Tillotson 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-18) in the second.

In the early match, Loyola (16-11) took a 3-0 lead in the first set before Austin scored 13 of the next 16 points. An ace by Lindsey Mullinix, her second of the set, brought Loyola within six at 17-11. Austin College would keep the lead and won 25-18 on an ace.

In the final two games, Austin College (24-10) grabbed early leads and never looked back. In the second set, a kill by Loyola’s Taylor Jones made the score 14-10 Austin, but the Kangaroos closed out the game by outscoring Loyola 11-3 to go up 2-0. After being down by as much as eight in the final game, Loyola came within five at 15-20 on a block by Jones, but the Roos held on to win 25-17 for the sweep.

Loyola was led by Ashley Abendschein with nine kills, while Jones had 5, and Rachael Roth added four. Samantha Worsham assisted on 21 of 25 Loyola kills. Defensively, Amanda Oldani had 13 digs, and Jones led with four blocks.

In the second match, Huston-Tillotson (4-19) took a 7-5 lead early on before Loyola’s Worsham served 10 straight points. Loyola extended their lead to 11 at 21-10 on an Abendschein kill, and Worsham sealed the 25-17 win with a kill.

The Wolfpack took a quick 3-0 lead in the second set, after two aces by Jones. Loyola would go up 18-10 after an assisted block by Kristie Hadley and Ashley England. An ace by Oldani stretched the lead to 22-11, then a kill by Mullinix put Loyola up 2-0 for the match.

Loyola started the final set much like the second, taking a 7-1 lead after two straight kills by Abendschein. Tillotson rallied back after a kill, coming within two at 9-7. However, the Wolfpack never surrended the lead, as Worsham ended the match with a kill for the 25-18 victory.

Abendschein led the attack with seven kills, while England finished with six. Worsham had 24 assists and four aces. Jones led with fives aces, while adding five kills. Oldani led with 10 digs, and Mullinix blocked five attacks.

Loyola finishes up the weekend at Georgetown on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m. with a match against East Texas Baptist University before squaring off with NCAA-III #12 Southwestern University at 1 p.m.

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