CHICAGO – Chicago State volleyball opened a five-match slate this week with a mid-week contest tonight against city foe Loyola at legendary Alumni Gym, but the host Ramblers proved to be dominant with a three-set victory by scores of 25-19, 30-28 and 25-11. Loyola hiked its season record to 3-5, while the Cougars fell to 0-6 on the year.
The host team captured an early 11-2 advantage following a kill from junior Mallory Curran and a service ace from senior Alyse Serritella. CSU later responded by scoring 14 of the next 23 points to pull within 20-17 that concluded with a back-to-back kills from freshman Kimberly Naut (Reno, NV/Galena) (Reno, Nev.), but Loyola finished the set by tallying five of the final seven points.
In the second set, the Cougars broke a 2-2 tie with a 7-2 scoring drive to capture a 9-4 leading margin before LU called a timeout. The Ramblers bounced back with an 11-4 scoring drive of their own to capture a small 15-13 lead following a kill from Curran before CSU used a quick 4-2 run to even the score at 17-17. Both teams were still going back and forth during the set until a service ace from junior Brittany Hale (South Holland, IL/Grand View (Iowa)) (South Holland, Ill.) gave the visitors a slim 20-19 lead. CSU later erased a 24-21 deficit by scoring five of the next six points to take a close 26-25 lead before LU scored five of the final eight points to head into intermission with a two-set lead.
The Ramblers posted an early 7-1 lead in the third set thanks to four consecutive service aces from junior Colleen Francis and later took a 10-2 advantage following a kill from junior Katie Johnson. Later in the set, LU would then use a 15-9 scoring run to claim the match victory.
Naut recorded a match-best nine kills for CSU, while senior Niena Posey (Chicago, IL/Lincoln College) (Chicago Heights, Ill.) tallied a career-best five blocks and junior Hanya Minta (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie) (Eden Prairie, Minn.) posted 18 assists.
Mattei posted a match-high 27 assists and six service aces to lead the Loyola contingent on the evening. Curran and Francis each added eight kills with Francis recording five service aces of her own, and sophomore Natalie Pounovich posted four block assists.
The Cougars return to action this Friday as they head to Terre Haute, Ind., to participate in the Best Western ISU Classic where they will face Ball State starting at 3:30 p.m.
~ CSU ~
