Women’s Volleyball Falls Short Against Utah 3-1 at Loyola Invitational

Loyola women’s volleyball struggled against the University of Utah for the second time this weekend, falling three sets to one. The match, which took place Sep. 14 was game three of four in the Loyola Invitational at Gentile Arena. 

In the first set, Loyola came out firing, recording three back-to-back kills by fourth-year opposite Esma Ajanovic and graduate student outside hitter Marta Cvitokovic. Following an extended stretch of back-and-forth scoring, Loyola scored another three points including an ace by third-year middle blocker Ann Marie Remmes to put them up 16-13. 

After the run, the Ramblers maintained their lead for the rest of the set and finished it off with a kill by fourth-year setter Bree Borum to take the first set 25-21. 

Though Loyola entered the second set in the lead, it didn’t last. Utah took the lead 7-2 off of fierce kills by fourth-year Utah outside hitter Lauren Jardine and several Loyola block errors. The score jumped first from 16-9, and finished with Utah up 25-15. 

Loyola fought back throughout with several rallies, including digs by first-year libero Jae Fitting, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.

Initially, both teams were locked in a battle to gain an advantage at the start of the second set. The Ramblers began to fall behind as Utah scored on a tip, an ace and a block making the score 13-10, with Loyola calling a timeout to stop play.

The Ramblers started to crawl back with three kills in four points by Cvitokovic, but they couldn’t quite catch up to Utah as they consistently trailed by three points. Cvitkovic recorded six kills in the set.

The last set started as an even fight between both teams with back-and-forth kills. Loyola crept to a five point lead, getting back into contention. Utah responded with sharp kills from graduate outside hitter Rianne Vos. 

Fans were momentarily left on the edge of their seats when Utah’s match winning play was reviewed. After several minutes of deliberation from the referees, Utah was eventually awarded the point for a Loyola dig failure, securing a 25-19 victory for Utah. 

Loyola head coach Amanda Berkley said she needed the team to adjust to the strong pin hitters on Utah, and said the goal was for the “blockers to get in front of the hitters.”

“Jae (Fitting) had a great game defense wise especially in terms of digging those strong pins that Utah had,” Berkeley said. 

Another notable mention from Berkley was second-year middle blocker Avary Deblieck. Berkley said her blocking helped control Utah’s offensive attack. Deblieck finished the match hitting .438 with seven kills.

The Ramblers will stay in Chicago for their next competition, where they travel to McGrath Arena for the Chicago Cup against cross-city rivals University of Illinois-Chicago and DePaul University Sept. 19-21.