Chicago, Ill. (January 22, 2005) – The men’s team suffered their first loss of the season this evening against Missouri Baptist, losing 2-3 (33-35, 27-30, 30-28, 30-21, 13-15).

Sophomore James Grunst recorded a season-high 20 kills, hitting a .561 percentage for the 5 games. Grunst not only led the team in kills, but in blocks as well with two solos and four block assists. Behind Grunst was senior Scott Greene who posted a career and season-high 18 kills, 10 digs and 5 blocks for the evening. Chris Kozlarek chipped in 14 kills along with teammate Chris Nelson who added in 15 more.

Another Rambler posting career-highs was setter Brian Guntli with 71 assists, eight digs, two block solos and one block assist. LiberoKrystian Krzyzak and Kozlarek led the team in digs, both recording 11.

The Spartans and Ramblers battled out the first two games. In the first game Missouri Baptist hit .256 compared to Loyola’s .130 and in the second game the Spartans hit .280 to Loyola’s .262. In the third game the Ramblers combined to hit .343 and held the Spartans to .257, taking the lead with a late run led by Greene. The Ramblers took an early commanding lead in game four, while hitting .556. Grunst stepped up for the team recording 6 kills (1.00 hitting percentage) and four blocks. In the fifth match, the Spartans came back, holding the Ramblers to a 0.95 hitting percentage with their strong blocking to finish out the match.

The Ramblers will be back in action this Tuesday, January 25 in Alumni Gym as they take on Milwaukee’s School of Engineering at 7 p.m.