The Loyola University Maryland volleyball team finished the Red Flash Classic with a 1-2 record, concluding play with a sweep of host St. Francis Saturday night, after falling to George Mason on Friday and Morgan State Saturday morning.
During the Greyhounds’ three-set win against the Red Flash, three Loyola players had 11 or more kills to win the match, 25-23, 25-21, 25-22.
Loyola and St. Francis have each beaten the other on the road this season, after the Greyhounds’ three-set loss to the Red Flash in the Greyhound Classic two weeks ago.
Sophomore Jane Lukas led the way for Loyola offensively with 14 kills against St. Francis, one more than freshman Stacey Kazalas, who finished with 11 or more in all three of Loyola’s matches this weekend.
Senior Mindy Maloney added 11 kills, four total blocks and an ace for the Greyhounds.
Sophomore Kelly McShea led Loyola with 23 assists, while senior Lauren Andersen added 15. Sophomore Micah Duzey led all players with 20 digs.
The Greyhounds led by as many as five in the first set before the Red Flash rallied to tie the score at 19-19 on a Loyola attack error. Freshman Corri Waters temporarily put the Greyhounds back in front, but St. Francis sided out, this time knotting the score at 20 apiece.
The Red Flash took its first lead of the match, 21-20, after Sophie Murdock and Alanna Blenkarn put up a block for a St. Francis point, but consecutive kills by Kazalas and sophomore Lauren Youngblood put Loyola back in front.
The teams traded sideouts for a tie at 23-23, but two miscues by the Red Flash pushed Loyola a 25-23 set win and 1-0 lead in the match.
Midway through the second stanza, the Greyhounds built a 15-9 lead on the serve of Duzey. She had an ace in between two Kazalas kills, and Maloney put away a St. Francis overpass to make it a six-point Loyola lead.
The Red Flash would pull within three, 21-18, but Maloney notched a kill on set point to give the Greyhounds a 2-0 match advantage.
After a Kazalas ace in the third set put the Hounds in front 4-2, three St. Francis attack errors pushed Loyola in front by five points.
The Greyhounds stretched their lead to 17-9 on a Lukas kill, but the Red Flash would claw back within a pair, 23-21 on a Hannah Kutny kill.
Youngblood and Maloney each picked up a block on St. Francis’ Emily Marcinowski to move the lead back to three, and after a Loyola hitting error, Kazalas logged her 13th kill on match point to give the Greyhounds the sweep.
Youngblood had a career-best five kills and two blocks in the match, while Waters recorded four kills and two blocks.
On Friday, Loyola dropped three straight sets to George Mason, 25-22, 25-21, 25-18, before also being swept by Morgan State Saturday morning, 25-18, 25-19, 25-19.
The Greyhounds have wrapped up non-conference play and open Patriot League action at home on Thursday, Sept. 25, against Lehigh University in Reitz Arena at 7 p.m.