ATHENS, Ohio – Loyola University Maryland lost a pair of non-conference matches on Friday as the Greyhounds started competition at the Bobcat Invitational.
Bradley and Tennessee Tech each beat the Greyhounds in straight sets.
Loyola will finish play in the tournament against host Ohio University on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
Bradley 3, Loyola 0 –
Lauren Link (16),
Caitlin Churney (12) and
Cecylia Guye (9) combined for 28 kills, but Loyola had 29 hitting errors in Friday's first match, a 25-19, 29-27, 25-21 loss to Bradley.
After dropping the first set, the Greyhounds took a 17-14 lead in the second after kills by Guye and Churney, as well as a Bradley attack error. The Braves, however, sided out and scored four in a row to regain the lead at 18-17.
Loyola had set points at 24-23 and 25-24, but each time Bradley got sideout points and then eventually pushed ahead for the 29-27 set win.
Three Greyhounds had double-figure dig numbers, led by
Katie Forsythe's match-best 24.
Rose McDermott added 12, and
Kacy Sekunda had 10 to go with a match-high 35 assists.
Tennessee Tech 3, Loyola 0 –
Tennessee Tech hit .308 in the match, and not less than .275 in the three sets, to score a 25-22, 25-21, 27-25 victory against the Greyhounds.
The Golden Eagles led, 15-8, in the first set, but Loyola scored seven of the next eight points to get within one, 16-15 on a Link kill. Tennessee Tech, however, never gave up the lead during the match, allowing Loyola to tie the score just once (21-21) before pulling away for good.
Bukala had a kill in the third to give Loyola a 9-3 advantage, and the Greyhounds led by three or more for a long stretch. A Tennessee Tech service error made Loyola's lead four, 22-18, but the Golden Eagles had two kills and a service ace to make it a one-point margin.
Bukala sided out to make it 23-21, but Tennessee Tech scored the next three to gain its first match point at 24-23. Loyola (2-4 overall) never led after that point.
Link had a team-best 14 kills, while Bukala chipped in with 11.
