BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland volleyball looked close to forcing a deciding fifth set with two set-point opportunities in the fourth, but Colgate fended off both and then scored the final three points of the match for a four-set win over the Greyhounds.
Lauren Link gave Loyola a 25-24 lead in the fourth, but Tiana Owens sided out for Colgate with a kill, and after a Greyhounds' attack error, she combined with Maddie Rudolph for a block that sealed the Raiders win, 17-25, 25-22, 26-24, 27-25.
Loyola opened with a .342 hitting percentage in the first, committing just two errors in the opening frame, and the Greyhounds held Colgate to .079.
The Raiders would come back to hit .326 in the next three sets, however, as the won the final trio.
Kacy Sekunda put Loyola up 19-16 in the fourth with a kill, but Colgate reeled off three in a row to take a 20-19 advantage.
Riley Hamilton and
Mariah Sanabia had kills on the next two points to put Loyola back in front, but Owens had a kill to even it at 21-21. Loyola took two more one-point leads, but the teams were tied at 22-22 and 23-23.
Caitlin Churney put away one of her 11 kills for the Gryehounds to give Loyola its first set-point of the fourth, 24-23, but Abby Shadwick had a sideout kill to tie the set again. Link's 19
th kill of the match again put Loyola up one, 25-24, before Colgate scored the last three.
Link finished with 19 kills and 19 digs while hitting .288. Hamilton and Churney both added 11 kills, and Sekunda was a kill shy of her seventh triple-double this season with nine kills, 25 assists and 15 digs.
Leah Hunter led all players with 21 digs. Hamilton added 15, and
Bryanne Soares had 28 assists and 10 digs.
Shadwick tallied a Colgate-high 17 kills.
Loyola will be back in action at 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 12, with a road game in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, at Bucknell.
