No. 8 Loyola Chicago Defeats Rockhurst in Four Sets to Stay Undefeated 

The No. 8 Loyola men’s volleyball team defeated the Rockhurst University Hawks Jan. 18 at Gentile Arena, closing out a two-game weekend homestand with a 3-1 victory.  

Redshirt first-year setter Alex Smits Van Oyen captured his first career kill at Loyola, and redshirt fourth-year outside Parker Van Buren — who was named MIVA offensive player of the week — tallied 18 kills. 

The first set was tightly contested to start, as Rockhurst took the first point off an attack error by second-year middle blocker Aidan Klein. Loyola quickly equalized things following a Hawk service error, before another Rockhurst service error gave Loyola a narrow 3-1 lead. A block assist from Rockhurst’s first-year rightside Lucas Tran and first-year middle blocker Aron DeRoy made it 3-2.

Van Buren made his presence known early with a powerful kill to regain a 4-3 advantage. Both teams continued trading points to tie at 10 before Rockhurst gained momentum with a service ace and a successful coach’s challenge on a net violation to go up 12-10.

Rockhurst extended its advantage to 14-11 after a strong kill by third-year Hawks’ outside hitter Shay Spadaro and a service error from second-year rightside Lukas Anderson. After a timeout, the Ramblers tightened their defense and capitalized on Rockhurst errors. Van Buren delivered several crucial kills, and Fabikovic recorded a block solo. 

An effort from fourth-year middle blocker Nicodemus Meyer slimmed Rockhurst’s lead to 23-16, before a Fabikovic attack error gave the Hawks set point. Despite a service error from Tran, Rockhurst earned the 25-17 set victory after Fabikovic recorded a service error on the next play. 

Loyola bounced back in the second set, opening with a solo block from Meyer. The Ramblers quickly surged to a 9-3 lead, bolstered by two service aces from Van Buren and back-to-back block assists by third-year middle blocker Brad Bell and second-year outside hitter Jake Read. Rockhurst called an early timeout to regroup but struggled to close the gap.  

A kill from Tran and Rambler errors gave Rockhurst momentum, as both teams traded service errors, aces and kills. A kill from Fabikovic followed by Rockhurst errors strengthened Loyola’s lead. 

Continued service errors on both sides and kills by Van Buren and Read made it 20-13. Rockhurst struggled to break through Loyola’s defense. The Ramblers faced some late attack errors, but maintained composure to close the set 25-18 and even the match at one set each.  

Kills by Read and Bell against first-year middle blocker Daniel Mekonen and DeRoy had the score tied at two to start the third set. Fabikovic collected a kill and Read tallied another along with an ace to put Loyola up 5-2. 

A kill by DeRoy was met with consecutive kills by Fabikovic, Meyer and Bell as Van Buren tallied two kills to make the score 10-4. Kills by Fabikovic, Read and Bell built Loyola’s lead, before a Van Buren ace put the Ramblers up 16-7. 

First-year outside hitter Max Tkachev secured two kills for Rockhurst while Meyer and Van Buren kept the momentum for Loyola up 21-12. The Hawks couldn’t recover from the deficit, and the Ramblers took the set 25-13 on a Van Buren kill and a Rockhurst attack error.

In set three, the Ramblers significantly outperformed their .360% hitting average from the first two sets, hitting .630%. Van Buren gained six of his 18 kills in the third set alone. 

The fourth set saw nine early lead changes as the teams traded points, before Loyola began to pull away with a put-back kill from Meyer and a Hawks’ violation for an 11-9 advantage. Back-to-back errors by Rockhurst, followed by Van Buren’s 16th kill of the night, pushed the Rambler lead to 15-11.  

Loyola sealed the set and match with a dominant 8-2 run, highlighted by three consecutive aces — one from redshirt first-year Tyler Howard and two from Fabikovic. Meyer tallied his sixth kill, and Fabikovic capped the match with a powerful final point to give Loyola a 25-16 win in the fourth set.  

Head coach Shane Davis said he was happy with the win considering the grit Rockhurst played with.

“I thought Rockhurst did a great job with the way they started that match,” Davis said. “I thought they were passing really well, serving well, digging a lot of balls and we just put ourselves in a lot of tough situations. Hats off to them on the way they started that match and happy, the way our team was able to regroup and make some adjustments and finish off the weekend with a win.”

The Ramblers remain undefeated heading into their next match. Loyola remains at home Jan. 25 against Missouri S&T. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.