MATCH STATS
- #6 Loyola Chicago Def. #8 CSUN 3-1 (26-24, 25-16, 22-25, 25-17)
- #6 Loyola Chicago 6-2; #8 CSUN 5-3
- Chicago, Illinois (Joseph J. Gentile Arena)
- Box score
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – For the second time this week, #6 Loyola Chicago earned a four-set win over a top-15 opponent at home. This time’s victim was #8 Cal State Northridge, as the Ramblers were scintillating on the offensive side of the net.
The difference may have been the balance for Loyola Chicago as well as an edge on first and second contact. That led to more attack errors from CSUN, while the clean match from Loyola Chicago gave them the 3-1 win despite the teams being tight in blocks (8 to 7.5 LC), digs (28-27 LC) and the service game (both teams had 15 serve errors to eight aces).
The story of the result was shown by the Ramblers hitting .436 to a .275 clip from the Matadors.
The opening set established an offensive rhythm for both teams, as Loyola Chicago hit .636 with CSUN at .619. Through 12 ties and a pair of lead changes, the Ramblers came out on top 26-24 behind 16 Garrett Zolg (42 assists, 4 digs, 2 aces) first set assists and seven Collin Mahan (19 kills, .394, 6 digs, 3 aces) terminations. Zolg also had the final point on an ace that dispelled the great play of Arvis Greene (20 kills, .200, 3 digs, 2 aces), who in his second match back from injury posted seven kills on nine swings with no errors (.778) in the opener.
That unstoppable offense only continued for one side in the second, as Loyola Chicago continued to earn kills at a blistering rate. Their serve and defense worked better in the second too, as they held CSUN to a .040 mark in the second with Devin Joslyn (match-high 9 digs) patrolling the back and Paul Narup (match-high 6 blocks) up front. The Ramblers meanwhile hit .480 in set two and led coast-to-coast.
The Matadors found their footing in the third, mainly doing so defensively. They held the Ramblers to a .156 hitting percentage for the set alone with Greene continuing to roll and getting some help from Dimitar Kalchev (13 kills, .476, 4 aces, 4 digs).
Loyola Chicago more than responded in the fourth though, and snagged six of the first seven points in the fourth. From there, the combination of Mahan, Ricky Gevis (16 kills, .519, 5 blocks) and Jeff Jendryk (12 kills, .647) spearheaded the Ramblers’ effort to a 25-17 close-out.
Next up, the Ramblers take on #14 USC next Saturday in Chicago while the Matadors will look to end their three match slide in The Matadome against UC Santa Cruz.
Press Releases
In Short
No. 7 Loyola University Chicago (6-2) hit a season-high .436 (56-12-101) for the match as it won for the fourth straight contest, defeating No. 9 CSUN (5-3), 26-24, 25-16, 22-25, 25-17 this afternoon at Gentile Arena. The Ramblers have knocked off four nationally ranked foes this season, including a pair of top 10 teams.
How It Happened
Loyola pushed its lead to 16-13 on a Jeff Jendryk service ace in set one before CSUN rallied, tallying three unanswered points to knot the score. From there, the contest was back-and-forth until Collin Mahanhammered home one of his team-high 19 kills and Garrett Zolg served an ace to provide the Ramblers with a thrilling 26-24 victory. Both teams came out of the gates quickly and were incredibly efficient in set one as Loyola hit .636 (17-3-22), to CSUN’s .619 (14-1-21), while Mahan drilled seven of his kills in the opening set alone.
The Ramblers wasted little time taking a comfortable lead in set two, scoring the first four points, and six of the first seven, including three more kills from Mahan, to dart out to a 6-1 advantage. That lead grew to as many as 12 points on a pair of occasions, the first coming on a Ricky Gevis kill that made it 20-8, and Loyola would roll to a 25-16 victory.
CSUN stayed alive in the match thanks to a 25-22 win in the third set. The Matadors snapped a 19-all tie by stringing together a 4-1 run, highlighted by a pair of Dimitar Kalchev kills, to grab a 23-20 lead they would not surrender.
Set four was nearly a repeat of the second set as Loyola got a pair of aces from Devin Joslyn and kills from Mahan and Jendryk, as part of a set-opening 6-1 run that stunned CSUN. The Matadors would eventually trim the Ramblers’ lead down to two, but Joslyn delivered a pair of kills in a mini 3-1 spurt that extended the Loyola advantage to 10-6. From that point forward, CSUN would get no closer than three points and the Ramblers would lead by as many as nine (22-13) on their way to a 25-17 decision.
A Look At The Numbers
- Mahan pounded out 19 kills and added six digs, hitting .394 (19-6-33), as he reached double-digit kills for the ninth straight match dating back to last season.
- Gevis continued his impressive play this weekend by crushing 16 kills, his most since February 14, 2016, hitting at a .519 clip (16-2-27), and pitching in five blocks and three digs.
- Jendryk was efficient again, totaling 12 kills, two blocks and an ace, while hitting .647 (12-1-17).
- Arvis Greene led CSUN with a match-high 20 kills.
Up Next
Loyola continues its nine-match homestand when hosts No. 13 USC on February 3 at 7 p.m.
CHICAGO, Ill. – After dropping the first two sets, No. 9 CSUN won the third but couldn’t complete the comeback and fell at seventh-ranked Loyola-Chicago 26-24, 25-16, 22-25, 25-17) Saturday afternoon at Gentile Arena.
The loss, the Matadors’ third straight, drops CSUN to 5-3 on the season while the Ramblers improve to 6-2.
Senior Arvis Greene posted a match-high 20 kills for the Matadors in the loss, hitting .200 on a season-high 45 attacks. The senior opposite also added a pair of aces, three digs and a pair of blocks. Junior Dimitar Kalchev had a solid all-around match with 13 kills on .476 hitting to go with four aces, four digs and two blocks.
Kalchev’s four aces snapped a tie with Kevin McKniff (2007-10), moving him into sole possession of third place in CSUN history with 125 career aces.
Junior Eric Chance added five kills (.273) and four blocks while Sam Porter came off the bench to hand out 29 assists and seven digs over the final three sets.
Both teams were strong offensively at the outset, hitting a combined .628. The host Ramblers, who hit .636, put down a CSUN overpass to take an early 8-5 lead. Despite tying the score five times, the Matadors could never take a lead and again went down three (16-13) following a Jeff Jendryk ace.
CSUN, which hit .619, tied the score twice more before taking its first lead of the set, 20-19 when Kalchev and Josiah Byers stuffed a Loyola attack. CSUN hung on to a one-point lead at 21-20, 22-21 and 23-22 before consecutive Ramber kills put Loyola back in front 24-23. A triple block by Chance, Schylar Lillethorup and Ksawery Tomsia saved one set point but a Collin Mahan kill followed by a Loyola ace gave the hosts the 26-24 win.
After hitting .619 in the opening frame, the Matadors hit .040 in set two and never led in the set. After dropping six of the first seven points, CSUN trailed by as many as 12 (19-7) and the Ramblers won going away 25-16.
Needing to win out to pull the upset, the Matadors got one back in the third set. A co-block by Byers and Greene gave CSUN an 8-4 lead before the hosts rallied back behind a 7-3 run to knot the score at 11. The set was tied seven more times, the last at 19-19, when the Matadors got a Kalchev kill and a Chance-Greene block to take a 21-19 lead.
Kalchev’s third ace of the set extended the CSUN lead to three (23-20) which turned out to be the final margin as Greene’s kill capped a 25-22 Matador win.
Unfortunately a slow start to the fourth set again doomed CSUN’s chances as the Ramblers opened with a 6-1 lead. Maciej Ptaszynski‘s kill pulled the Matadors within two at 8-6 but CSUN would get no closer the rest of the way.
Ptaszynski’s swing went long extending the Loyola lead to six (15-9) and after CSUN trimmed a nine-point lead down to seven (24-17), a Mahan kill ended the match.
Mahan led the Ramblers with 19 kills (.394) and was one of three Loyola hitters with double figures in kills.
CSUN returns home to host UC Santa Cruz in a non-conference match next Saturday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.
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