On Friday, Sept. 20, Loyola Women’s Volleyball had its home opener against American University. Before this, the team went to the Hampton Inn and Suites Seahawk Classic, the Villanova Classic, and the Tiger Classic tournaments. In total, they went 2-7 in their preseason.
Not only was the game against American the team’s Patriot League opener, it was a fundraiser for late Greyhound volleyball alum Corinne Filograna, who passed away in May of 2023 after a long battle with stage four cancer.
In Filograna’s first-year season, she played in 19 out of the 30 possible matches, totaling 22 digs and four aces. She played as a defensive specialist during her sophomore year and was third on the team in digs, with 272 for the year. Her junior year in 2020 was shortened due to COVID, but she put up impressive numbers averaging 4.40 digs per set. Filograna was also named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.
In the days leading up to Friday’s game and at the match itself, the team sold yellow Loyola Volleyball shirts in honor of Filograna and to fundraise for pediatric cancer. All proceeds went to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Though the game did not end in the Greyhounds’ favor, they still played hard for a greater cause.
“Today was all about Corinne. I love when we do games like this as it really gives us a purpose,” Rose McDermott ‘25 said.
“Playing for Corinne always pulls at my heart. My sister played with her and she was in her class. Just getting to play for her really hits close to home,” Riley Hamilton ‘26 said.
American took down the Greyhounds in three sets with scores of 17-25, 15-25, and 21-25. The Eagles led the match with 48 kills to the Hounds’ 30 and seven aces to our zero. They tied the Greyhounds in blocks with four total throughout the match.
“Going forward, we want to recover from tonight. We would really want to place high in Patriot Leagues. I think we finished sixth last season, so we want to finish higher than that,” Hamilton said.
Graduate student Lauren Link led the team in attacks with 12 kills and two errors. Hamilton followed Link with six kills of her own. Kacy Sekunda ‘25 and Mariah Sanabia ‘27 were right behind Hamilton, both having four kills. Sekunda led the team in assists and digs with 15 and 11, respectively. Leah Hunter ‘26 donned a different color jersey and played as the libero for this match; she ended with nine digs.
“I think just building on what we have and working hard is important,” McDermott said.
The team scored a .155 hitting percentage with 103 attempts. Overall in the match, the Greyhounds had 30 kills and four blocks. Two of the blocks were from setter Sekunda. The other three were from graduate student Caitlin Churney, Link, and Hamilton.
Both teams were able to put up multiple rallies and saves. With the fundraiser and high-level competition, this home opener was an important one for the team.
Their next game is against Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts on Sept. 27. The team’s next home game is on Friday, Oct. 4 against Lafayette.
