Loyola volleyball hosted the third-annual Greyhound Challenge tournament this weekend in Reitz Arena and took third place, going 1-2.
The Greyhounds started the weekend off right with a five-set win over Quinnipiac on Friday night. Freshman Molly Cichosz and senior Mindy Maloney led the team with 25 kills and 16 kills respectively, both career-highs. Sophomore Jane Lukas also added 10 kills. As a team, the Greyhounds hit .294 in the victory.
The Bobcats took the first set 25-20, but the Hounds took the next two, 25-22 and 25-20. The Bobcats tied it in the fourth set, outscoring Loyola 25-18.
Quinnipiac scored first in the deciding fifth set, but wouldn’t lead again for the remainder of the game. The Greyhounds took the next four points, but the Bobcats would come back to tie it 4-4, before the Hounds scored four more on three Cichosz kills and a Quinnipiac error.
After Loyola took a commanding 12-6 lead, the Bobcats clawed back to within three. But a Quinnipiac service error and a Maloney kill locked up the win for the Hounds.
But that was the last set the Hounds would win in the tournament. Both Dartmouth and St. Francis beat Loyola 3-0 on Saturday.
Lukas recorded 12 kills in the Hounds’ morning game against Dartmouth, while senior Kara Schiffer added 15 digs. But the Big Green posted a team hitting percentage of .240 while holding Loyola to just a .076 percentage on the game.
Paige Caridi led Dartmouth with 13 kills and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Lottie MacAulay and Emily Astartia each had seven kills for the Big Green and were both named to the All-Tournament Team. Dartmouth took home the hardware, going undefeated on the weekend.
The tournament’s second place team, St. Francis, finished with a 2-1 record, with one of those wins coming Saturday afternoon against the Hounds.
Emily Marcinowski and AlannaBlenkarn led the Red Flash with 14 kills and 30 assists, respectively, earning them both a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
Though Maloney hit .538 against the Red Flash, St. Francis held Loyola to a .033 team hitting percentage in the first set and only allowed the Hounds to score 20 points once over the three sets.
Maloney, who was also named to the All-Tournament Team, converted eight kills on 13 hits against St. Francis and added four blocks.
The Greyhounds return to the court Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. start against Howard in Reitz Arena.