WORCESTER, Mass. –
Lauren Link registered her 1,000
th career kill and finished with a match-high 17 on Saturday as the Loyola University Maryland volleyball team used five sets to beat College of the Holy Cross, 20-25, 25-20, 17-25, 25-19, 15-11.
The win, coupled with Lafayette College's loss on Saturday to Colgate University, earned the Greyhounds a bid to the 2023 Patriot League Championships, their fifth in six seasons.
Loyola will travel to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, November 14, to face American University at 7 p.m. in the Patriot League Quarterfinals.
In Saturday's match, Link hit the 1,000-kill plateau early in the second set with a kill that got Loyola within a point, 3-2. The Greyhounds would trail 11-8 in that set before an 8-2 run put them in front, 16-13, on a
Bryanne Soares kill.
Holy Cross came back to win the third set, but a 5-0 run for Loyola in the frame stretched its lead from 16-14 to 21-14 with a
Kennedy Stevens kill.
The Crusaders appeared poised to end the Greyhounds' season, going up 10-4 with a Rachel Johnson kill in the deciding fifth set, but Link sided out with a kill to give Loyola the serve.
Morgan Crawford had back-to-back kills, and Loyola with within three, 10-7, and a
Sophie Brenner kills made it 10-8. The Greyhounds pulled within one after a Holy Cross attack miscue, but a service error sided out for the Crusaders and put them four points away from winning the match.
That point – Holy Cross' 11
th of the set – would be its last of the day.
A service error by the Crusaders turned the serve back to Loyola, and Crawford and
Kacy Sekunda had consecutive Loyola kills. A Holy Cross hitting error gave the Greyhounds a 13-11 advantage, and
Maya Dudockin put down a solo block to give Loyola match point.
She then logged just her fourth kill of the season to finish the match and send Loyola to the Championships.
Dudockin, who was playing in just her second match of the year, had four kills without an error and tallied a career-high eight total blocks.
Kacy Sekunda logged her fourth triple-double of the season with a career-high 15 kills, 18 assists and 10 digs. She just missed a rare quadruple-double with a career-high eight blocks.
Rose McDermott had a team-high 19 digs, and Link added a double-double with 17. Soares led all players with 27 assists.
