March 22, 2008

Box Score

CHICAGO - The Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team held MIVA foe IPFW to a meager .088 hitting percentage as the Ramblers swept the defending NCAA runner-up Mastodons Saturday night at Alumni Gym. The Ramblers won 33-31, 30-27, 30-25 and improve to 13-10 (6-4 MIVA) on the year, while the Mastodons slip to 9-10 (3-6 MIVA) on the season.

Game one was a back-and forth affair as neither team held more than a three-point lead throughout. The Ramblers and Mastodons were tied up 19 times and exchanged leads five times. Loyola pushed the game to match-point (29-27) on a Mastodon error, but IPFW fought back and evened the score at 29 on a Rambler attack error. With the game knotted at 31-all, Michael Morice knocked down a kill to give Loyola its final lead of the game as the Ramblers pulled out a 33-31 victory.

IPFW came out swinging in the second game, as the Mastodons took a 7-4 lead on a kill by C.J. Macias. The Ramblers would mount a come back and take a three-point (13-10) advantage on back-to-back kills by George Kamberos. The conference rivals would continue to battle and draw even at 25-25, before the Ramblers would take advantage of three consecutive Mastodon attack errors en route to a 30-27 win.

With game three knotted at 15 apiece, a Kamberos kill would break the ninth and final tie of the game and spark a Rambler rally. Loyola extended its lead to four (23-19) on an Ian Anderson kill followed by a service ace by Joe Guntli. The Ramblers would go on to win the third game by a score of 30-25.

Anderson and Kamberos led the Ramblers in double-figures with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Mike Hutz recorded 44 assists and Nick Lamoureux contributed seven kills and five blocks.

The Ramblers look to stay on the winning track when they travel to George Mason on Saturday, March 29. Match time is set for 6 p.m. Central.