Throughout a season of ups and downs, the Loyola Volleyball team kept up their fighting spirit as they rallied for wins in the Patriot League tournament. With an 0-3 loss to Army in the Quarterfinals, the 2024 volleyball season came to an end on one cold November night. However, this fateful end did not stop graduate student Lauren Link or Kacy Sekunda ‘25 from remembering the season in a positive light.
Both players stood out on the team this year and received numerous awards and honors. Link and Sekunda were both nominated to the All-Patriot League Second Team, and Sekunda also made the Academic All-Patriot League Team with her dean’s list honors.
Link racked up notable statistics with her performances throughout the season. As the team’s starting six-rotation outside, she garnered 327 kills during the regular season which brought her to 1,346 career kills. She hit her 1,000th kill in an energetic match against Lafayette on Nov. 2. According to the official Loyola Greyhounds athletics website, Link extends her gratitude to her coaches and family for being her support system this season and for the past 5 years.
She explained that her mom would take off of work on Sundays to come to almost every match.
“Even though we live in Minnesota, they were at every game. It was so great to be able to know that no matter what sports site,” Link said.
Link now has the fifth most career kills in all-time Loyola Volleyball history.
“It was so great to be able to know that no matter what happened on the court, I could look for them in the crowd after the game and get the biggest hug of my life,” Link said.
This extra support was much needed after she came back from a serious injury that took her off the court for almost a year-long recovery process.
“I put in a lot of work. I definitely credit that all to my physical therapist, and my athletic trainer Zach. He saved my life and kept me from going crazy. It’s scary knowing that you’re going to be off for so long but he kept me sane and was quite literally my rock throughout that process,” Link said.
With a few other injuries on the team in key positions, the starting lineup looked a bit different for the Greyhounds this season. For Sekunda, who is oftentimes the team’s setter, this meant switching between setting and hitting on the right-side for many matches. Sekunda commended her teammates on their flexibility to the lineup changes.
“I admire how each of us bounced back. We did have some injuries, but we had some people step in and take on big leadership roles on the court which I respect a lot, and it was really admirable of them,” Sekunda said.
Sekunda also had some notable statistics this season. Showing her versatility as a player, the senior was second on the team in kills, assists, and digs. She tallied 239 kills, 416 assists, and 299 digs this season. She also scored 9 triple doubles this season. A triple double is when a player scores double digits in three statistical categories in one game (kills, aces, digs, etc.) Sekunda shared that she hopes to take a fifth year to finish her Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences degree, so the Hounds may be able to welcome her back to the court next fall.
Despite the season’s ups and downs, both Link and Sekunda could not help but remember it in a positive light. The duo shared immense gratitude for the rest of their teammates for their ability to show up when they were needed the most. In her last season as a Greyhound, Link was determined to enjoy every last minute of her time playing volleyball at Loyola.
Even when reflecting on her senior night game, which the team lost in a sweep by Bucknell, the graduate student could recall only positive parts of the night and commended her team’s enthusiasm throughout the match.
“If you ask anybody, it was on paper a terrible game. We got swept and the score was not even close, but all of us will agree that it was the most fun game ever. We were just goofing around, smiling, laughing and just trying stuff. That was the greatest way to leave Reitz arena and my career, to play a game like that. We were playing because we love the sport and because we love each other. It was such a fun atmosphere,” Link said.
The Greyhounds will return next fall short of their three graduate students and three seniors, but they will welcome some new freshman faces to the court.
