At the end of the Loyola Invitational Tournament this weekend, perhaps one Evansville volleyball fan summed it up best after the fourth set of the championship game on Saturday night:
"Wow."
An absolutely dominating performance by the LUC volleyball team, including a 12-1 record throughout tournament play, made for quite an impressive display.
In their first match against Bucknell, the Ramblers appeared to start slow with multiple service errors and a couple of service aces, giving the Bison their first five points. They battled ahead for an 8-6 lead, and after some hard fought play, went ahead 17-14 and never looked back, winning comfortably 25-20.
The second set was far less competitive. With mental mistakes avoided, LUC jumped out to an 11-3 lead by the serves of junior Alyse Serritella, who helped account for five straight points. Bucknell couldn't recover in time to make it sporting, with a final score of 25-15.
The momentum didn't stay with Loyola for long. After another sloppy start, including four errors, they found themselves down 7-3. However, the Ramblers were not to be denied so easily. They battled back to tie at 13 but fell behind again 21-17. Senior middle blocker Dana VanDigglen aced a serve to tie the game at 23-all, and the Ramblers pulled out the win 26-24.
Later on Friday night, Loyola played UT-Martin and the star was eventual tournament MVP senior Sarah Singer. She finished the game with 13 kills and five digs in a game full of smiles, shouting and the occasional dance. In set one, LUC raced out to a 5-0 lead, forcing UT to take an early time out to regroup. Thanks to a dominant performance by the front line and servers junior Lauren Ditscheit and Serritella, the Ramblers sprinted to a 15-6 lead and won in a dominating fashion 25-12 in a match defined by relentless defense and smart play.
If the first game was a blowout, one must dig deep into the thesaurus to find a word to describe the second. The final score was 25-7, a complete no-contest in which the home team posted an eye-popping .577 hitting percentage while UTM hit -.069. Yes, a negative number. Those two stats alone tell the tale of the match. Ditscheit continued controlling the game with her serving, leading LUC to a 9-0 lead. More crushing kills from VanDigglen, better known to the announcer as "DVD," Singer and sophomore outside hitter Katie Johnson set the tone on offense, while Serritella and Ditscheit both reached double digits in digs.
The third game of the tournament was much closer than the previous two. UTM managed to tie the game five times before the score reached 11-all, though LUC never trailed throughout the contest. After a tug of war, the Ramblers were finally able to pull away, thanks to more brilliant frontline play, and won the game 25-19. Singer seemed unsurprised by the 3-0 victory. "We knew we could control the match as long as we played our game," she said.
The third round against Sam Houston State was a match defined by early leads taken by LUC at the beginning of each game. Leads of 4-0, 5-1 and 9-5 were enough for each of the three games. During the first game, Loyola played smart volleyball and allowed the Bearkats to make mistakes that turned into points. A lead that stretched out to as much as nine at one point landed a win in game one, 25-18.
Sophomore Colleen Francis added to the five kills she had earlier with more stellar kills and blocks in game two. Often teaming with VanDiggelen the two stuffed the seemingly futile shots of SHSU and led an offense that rolled to a 25-16 win while hitting .625 across the match.
Once again, game three was closer but an early lead made it much easier. After the 9-5 run, LUC kept their distance from the Bearkats, operating with a lead ranging from three to five points for the rest of the way to a 25-21 sweep. Francis ended the night with a career-high 11 kills.
Meeting the Evansville Purple Aces in the championship, LUC presented variations on a theme. In the first game, LUC again got out front early thanks to more lights-out serving by Serritella, scoring five straight points to an 8-2 lead. Francis continued her hot-streak by boosting the score to 15-6. The Ramblers kept their foes no closer than six points for the rest of the game, finishing with a score of 25-18.
But Evansville refused to go down without a fight. For the second match, they kept it close, never trailing by more than four. After tying the score 20-20, LUC stormed forward, the highlight being a huge VanDiggelen solo block. The Ramblers squeaked by 25-23.
The third game yet again seemed to be a letdown for the Ramblers, whose intensity dropped along with their concentration. They fell behind early, 11-3, a streak which included five straight errors by LUC. After a furious comeback, LUC could only get within three the rest of the way, losing 21-25, disappointingly ending the winning streak throughout the tournament.
The final match ultimately turned into a repeat of the second match. Neither team could pull away from the other,
Loyola being down by only two during the early stages of the match. Johnson had a career high 16 kills, and was aided once again by Singer, who recorded an impressive double-double of 13 kills and blocks, and Ditscheit and Serritella combined for 41 sets and 29 digs.
When asked if she was surprised at the team's dominance this weekend, coach Marcie Wolbeck said, "I wouldn't say I was surprised, but I was very pleased with our poise and maturity as a group. We were able to move past mistakes very quickly and focus on each play as it came. I was also pleased with the consistency of our talk and intensity over four consecutive matches."
While Loyola occasionally let mental mistakes hurt them, the Ramblers dominated both offensively and defensively. Three members of the squad made the all-tournament team, including Singer, Johnson and Ditscheit, as the Ramblers look to display their exciting brand of volleyball the rest of the year.
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