Ramblers Lose A-10 Repeat to Dayton in 3-1 Match

The Loyola women’s volleyball team failed to repeat as Atlantic 10 Conference champions as the University of Dayton took them down in four sets, earning the conference trophy and a bid to the NCAA tournament. 

The Ramblers finished their season with an overall record of 19-12, and went 16-2 in A-10 conference play. Their only two losses in conference were from Dayton during the losing streak earlier in the season. The team ended on a 17 game win streak that was shut down by this Dayton win. 

This is the fifth championship win for the Flyers in six years, with Loyola’s victory last season being the only break in their run of success.  

The first set started with a run from the Flyers, scoring two right away with kills by fourth-year outside hitter and libero Lexie Almodovar and third-year outside hitter Taylor Russell. Fourth-year right side Emily Banitt immediately responded with a kill.

An attack error by Dayton’s fifth-year middle blocker Amelia Moore evened the set at two. 

Dayton went on a six-point run with kills by third-year setter Alyssa Miller and fourth-year middle blocker Alayna Yates, and two attack errors by third-year setter Bree Borum and fifth-year outside hitter Addie Barnes. 

Fourth-year middle blocker and right side Anna Feldkamp broke the streak after killing the ball off a serve by Moore. 

Two service errors from Barnes and Miller kept the lead for the Flyers at 9-5. Back-to-back Flyers kills came from second-year middle blocker Liana Sarkissian and Almodovar, and a block by Yates sent the Ramblers into a timeout down 12-5. 

Out of the break, the Ramblers racked up two quick points with a kill by graduate middle blocker Taylor Venuto and an attack error by Yates. Sarkissian recorded a kill before making an attack error maintaining the Flyers lead at 13-8. 

Almodovar and Barnes both made attack errors before the teams traded one-point kills credited to Venuto, Moore, Banitt and Russell. Dayton then went on a run of their own as Almodovar hit two kills and Russell made another before first-year setter Kylie Schulze stopped Dayton’s momentum with a kill of her own. 

Loyola’s last point of the first set came from a block by Feldkamp and Borum at 20-13. The Flyers finished off the set with mistakes from the Ramblers including service and attack errors from Barnes, Feldkamp and Borum and a bad set from Schulze, sealing the set at 25-13. 

The second set would end up being the last set win of the season for Loyola. After the score was equalized at two — with kills by Venuto, McNabb, Almodovar and Moore — the Ramblers shot ahead, scoring six points off kills by Banitt, Barnes, Borum and Feldkamp and an ace from third-year libero Olivia Lovett at 5-2.

Dayton struck back with kills by Almodovar, Yates and Sarkissian while the Ramblers could only muster a kill by Borum to make the score a close 9-7. 

Loyola scored three unanswered off an attack error by Almodovar, Borum’s only ace of the match and a kill from McNabb. The Flyers gained a point on an attack error caused by Banitt and the Ramblers would add two more off kills by McNabb and Venuto. 

In succession, Moore, Russell and Almodovar each responded with kills, shortening the Loyola lead to just three. The Ramblers would reciprocate with kills from Venuto and Banitt and an attack error by Miller. 

The Flyers scored only five more points in the set, adding to the kill counts of Yates, Almodovar and Russell, and service and attack errors from third-year opposite and right side hitter Esma Ajanovic and Banitt. 

Loyola closed out the second set with two kills by Feldkamp and singular kills from Barnes, Banitt, Borum and McNabb. Attack and service errors by Miller and Almodovar added on, and Venuto sealed the deal with a kill to conclude the set 25-16. 

The third set started with a back-and-forth that left the teams tied at four before the Ramblers went on a short run, jumping to a 7-4 lead. Four service errors were recorded by McNabb, Borum, Russell and first-year libero and outside hitter Gaby Arroyo in this point streak. The rest of the points were from three attack errors by Almodovar and one from McNabb and kills by Sarkissian, Venuto and Borum. 

To tie the set at nine, Moore, Barnes, Almodovar and Feldkamp recorded kills and Almodovar gained a service ace. Another kill by Yates along with an attack error from Borum tied it up. 

Miller put the Flyers ahead with a service ace that was quickly responded with a kill from McNabb to tie the set again at 10. A kill by Yates and a service error from Russell kept the two teams knotted at 11 each. 

The Flyers gained four points in a row following an attack error from Banitt, a block by Almodovar and Moore, an ace from second-year defensive specialist and libero Karissa Kaminski and a kill by Almodovar. 

Dayton increased their lead to six with kills by Almodvar, Moore and Russell and errors on Loyola’s behalf, setting the score at 20-14. 

The Ramblers tried to catch up as Feldkamp, McNabb and Borum fought for three kills which closed the gap to two. Dayton stayed ahead and finished the set 25-22 with kills by Almodovar, Yates and Sarkissian along with an ace from graduate defensive specialist Anna MacDonald. The last three from the Ramblers came from errors by MacDonald and Moore and a kill from Venuto. 

The last set of the match went into extra points. Rambler errors gave the Flyers two points right away along with an attack error from Russell and a kill from Sarkissian set the score at 3-1. 

Yates blocked the ball off of a Venuto hit before McNabb, Barnes and Banitt recorded kills for the Ramblers. 

Loyola went on a four-point run putting them ahead 8-7 off kills from Barnes and Borum, an ace by Barnes and an attack error from the Flyers.

The Ramblers took the lead six times only to be thwarted by the Flyers as they tied it up each time. Loyola broke the pattern, scoring two in a row with kills from Feldkamp and McNabb. 

Dayton responded with two kills from Almodovar and Sarkissian, tying the match again at 16. The Ramblers went ahead by three with McNabb and Banitt registering kills, and an error from Russell.

Yates answered with a kill for Dayton’s 17th point before Loyola went up two more from a McNabb kill and an Almodovar error, sitting at 21-17. 

Dayton closed the gap to one point with two kills from Almodovar and an ace from Kaminski before she sent the ball into the net. The final kill of the season for the Ramblers was recorded by Banitt. 

The last point for the Ramblers was from an attack error from Almodovar, who was named A-10’s player of the year. 

The Flyers scored five unanswered, starting with attack errors from Feldkamp and Borum. The Flyers reached match point with a kill from Moore and an ace by Almodovar. Barnes came in with a kill attempt, soaring to the back corner of the court. Her arm was too powerful and the ball went out of bounds, ending the match 26-24 with Dayton as A-10 champions. 

Head coach Amanda Berkley said to Loyola Athletics she is proud of the team for their hard work and fight this season. 

“This is a very resilient group,” Berkley said in a statement to Loyola Athletics. “They showed that by coming to work everyday to get better. I’m proud of these seniors for what they have been able to accomplish in their 4-5 years at Loyola.”

At the conclusion of the season, Borum led with 988 assists and 351 digs. McNabb came on top in kills with 321. Barnes totaled a team high of 46 service aces and Feldkamp had the most blocks with 103. 

Featured Image Courtesy of Tim Cowie | Loyola Athletics