Women’s Volleyball Secures Sweep Against Northeastern

The Loyola women’s volleyball team completed a sweep against Northeastern University during the Loyola Invitational in Gentile Arena Sept. 14 earning their first home win of the season.

The sweep marked the Ramblers’ third of the year and broke up a three-game losing streak. Following the win, Loyola’s record now stands at 3-5 on the season.

Graduate outside hitter Marta Cvitkovic earned the first Rambler point of the series, delivering a quick ace. After a Loyola serving error, the Huskies followed with an ace to take their first and only lead of the set.

The Ramblers responded hard, scoring off of an ace, two kills and two errors to take a four-point lead.

A kill from the Huskies put them back in contention, but back-to-back kills by third-year middle blocker Ann Marie Remmes and Cvitkvoic grew the 8-3 Loyola advantage as Northeastern called a timeout.

Redshirt third-year Northeastern outside hitter Kinley Gomez notched three kills in a seven point exchange between the teams, but kills from second-year middle blocker Avary DeBlieck and first-year outside hitter Kate Maley along with two Husky attack errors maintained the 12-6 Rambler lead.

Northeastern narrowed the deficit to within a point at 14-13 following two three-point runs, but kills by fourth-year right side hitter Esma Ajanovic and DeBlieck kept the Ramblers afloat.

Loyola hit the 20-point mark first after an extended volley, with fourth-year setter Bree Borum, Remmes and Cvitkovic all chipping in.

With a five-point lead, DeBlieck set up the Ramblers at a 24-19 set point.

Stavrinides put up one last kill to stay in the set, but Ajanovic put it away for good with a  25-20 first set win.

The Ramblers started the second set with a kill and scored off a Northeastern attack error. The Huskies quickly answered off a Loyola error and a kill of their own.

Both teams went on to exchange kills and errors until a service error by Northeastern third-year libero Nadia Koanui gave the serve back to Loyola. The Ramblers found their rhythm and went on a 7-3 scoring run with contributions from fourth-year outside hitter Olivia Lovett, Cvitkovic, Ajanovic and Remmes. 

The Ramblers entered an official timeout with a head full of steam and a 15-10 lead. Northeastern came out of the timeout with a kill by Gomez and an error to cut the Rambler lead to three.

The Huskie’s momentum was short lived as Loyola went on a 4-1 scoring run with a block and kills from Borum, DeBlieck and Cvitkovic.

The Huskies regained momentum after calling a timeout while down 19-13, scoring four unanswered after the break.

The Ramblers reclaimed control after a clutch kill by Ajanovic ended the Northeastern scoring run. Cvitkovic propelled Ramblers to 22 points with a kill and an ace.

Late in the game, Northeastern called their final timeout. Both teams continued back-and-forth for four more points before Ajanovic spiked the ball over the net securing a 25-19 set win.

The Huskies began the third set with a short-lived two-point lead, before the Ramblers scored five-in-a-row.

The Loyola run came to a halt when the Huskies answered with two straight kills from Smith and Gomez, bringing the score to 5-4.

The Husky kills didn’t affect the Ramblers as they responded with an ace from first-year libero Sam Falk and three kills.

The Huskies ended the brief Rambler run with a kill from graduate middle hitter Millie Loehr, but the kill wasn’t enough as the Ramblers went on a 5-2 run led by Cvitkovic’s three kills.

The Huskies, now down by seven, scored on two quick kills from Smith and Stavrinides. The Ramblers responded by going on another scoring run, with kills from Maley and Burke and Cvitkovic’s fourth ace of the game, making the score 18-10. 

Northeastern tacked on two points, but the Ramblers went on a dominating five-point run, before the Huskies managed to score three points off two Loyola errors and a kill from Smith.

The Ramblers closed out the match with back-to-back kills from Borum and Cvitkovic for the 25-16 win.

The maroon and gold were dominant on both sides of the ball, outdoing the Huskies in every statistical category. While Cvitkovic helped lead the Ramblers with 11 kills, the highest kill total of the night went to Smith with 14. The Ramblers also consistently stayed in front of Northeastern on points, with only four lead changes during the entire match.

Head coach Amanda Berkley particularly praised the efforts of Lovett, who hit .500 after a change in position.

“Olivia came in and she hasn’t really played a lot on the outside this season,” Berkeley said. “It’s been more of a [defensive specialist] role or even libero, so I was really proud of her to come in kind of in a position she hasn’t really played in a while and found ways to score.”

Adding to the staunch Loyola effort was Borum with 37 assists — two short of her career high — and Fitting with a total of 17 digs.

Later that evening, Loyola went on to fall to Utah for the second time of the invitational.

The Ramblers next matchup will be Sep. 19 against the University of Illinois-Chicago at the McGrath-Philips Arena on DePaul’s campus. The matchup is the first of two in the Chicago Cup, which also sees the Ramblers take on DePaul two days later.