BALTIMORE – In only her fourth collegiate game, Loyola University Maryland freshman libero Katie Forsythe set the school single-game record for digs as the Greyhounds defeated visiting Towson University for the first time since 1996 in the final match of the Baltimore Bash presented by the Lord Baltimore Hotel.
 
Forsythe recorded 13 digs in the first set en route to 41, shattering the record of 35 set in 2012 by Kara Schiffer. The Greyhounds also set the team single-game record for total blocks in a match with 18, led by eight each from middles Mackenzie Fedota and Alisah Cash.
 
Loyola's block was a key part of the win, especially in the fourth set as the Greyhounds (2-1 overall) pulled away for a 25-21, 25-20, 24-26, 25-13 victory. The win snapped Towson's 16-match winning streak in the series.
 
Ann Ernst led all players with 17 kills, coming alive in the final two sets to record seven and six, respectively in the third and fourth. Abby Hamilton added 15 kills in the victory.
 
Forsythe and Hamilton, both freshmen, were named to the All-Tournament Team as the Greyhounds finished second behind champion Radford University. The Highlanders fought off Loyola for a four-set win earlier Saturday.
 
Loyola hit .229 in the opening set to win the frame by four before holding Towson to a -.062 mark in the second to go up two sets to none.
 
Towson (1-2) led 12-9 in the early going of the third set before Loyola scored 11 of the next 14 points to lead 20-15 on a Fedota kill. The Tigers sidedout with an Emily Jarome kill, and they later pulled even at 23-23 on a Jocelyn Kuilan block.
 
Loyola went up 24-23 on a Hamilton kill, but Towson sided out and scored the last three points to push the match to a fourth set.
 
The Tigers tied the fourth-set score at 8-8 on a Jarome service ace, but Loyola reeled off 10 points in a row, five coming on blocks to lead 18-8 on a Cash kill. During the stretch, Loyola posted four-straight blocks, all involving Cash. She teamed with Cat Vaccaro for three in a row, and she then had a solo block on Silvia Grassini to make it 14-8 Greyhounds.
 
Towson would get within seven, 19-12, before Loyola eased away for the win.
 
Fedota had eight kills to go with her blocking numbers, and Haley Puddy had six kills and three blocks. Molly Werts had her third-straight double-double to start the season with 28 assists and 14 digs, while Ernst also posted a double-double with 14 digs. Alex Fisher chipped in with 17 assists.
 
Loyola's 18 total blocks – Vaccaro had seven in addition to Fedota and Cash's eight – eclipsed the 15 it put up in a 2015 five-set match against Sacred Heart University.
 
The Greyhounds head to the State of Texas – home to Puddy and Werts – next weekend for the Maverick Classic at the University of Texas at Arlington on Friday, August 31, and Saturday, September 1.