WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Loyola University Maryland volleyball team earned a spot in the 2024 Patriot League Championships Friday night, clinching its berth with more than a week to play in the regular season after beating host American University in four, 25-22, 19-25, 27-25, 25-22.
The Greyhounds will play in the Patriot League Championships for the sixth time in as many full seasons after the win. Loyola reached its first Patriot League tournament in 2018 and has done so every year since except for the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
Loyola reached the championships with a win over the 20-win Eagles team that entered Friday night's match with a 10-3 conference record.
Kacy Sekunda posted her ninth triple-double of the season in the match, hitting .464 in the process. She had a team-best 16 kills with only three errors in 28 attempts, while she also recorded 18 assists and 11 digs.
Caitln Churney put away 11 kills for the second night in a row, and
Lauren Link had a double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs.
Ally Bauer led Loyola with 15 digs and five service aces.
Morgan Crawford tied her career-high with six blocks to go with seven kills, and
Mariah Sanabia contributed five blocks.
Defense paced the Greyhounds in the first set with four blocks and 17 digs to hold the Eagles (20-6 overall, 10-4 Patriot League) to a .179 hitting percentage.
American came back to tie the match after two, converting just 23 swings into 13 kills with a single error (.522) in the second to win that set, 25-19.
The Eagles were poised to take a 2-1 lead in the third after a Elise Sterling kill game them set-point, but
Riley Hamilton came out of a Loyola timeout with a sideout kill to give the Greyhounds the serve.
Loyola turned that into two-straight Churney kills to win the third, 27-25.
In the fourth, the Greyhounds turned a 16-14 lead into a 20-15 advantage, and they were up five again at 22-17.
American scored three in a row to get within two, 22-20. Link sided out with a kill to make it 23-20 Loyola, but Zedo Yilmaz had a kill fo the Eagles to keep the gap at two.
Sekunda had a kills for Loyola to get to match-point at 24-21, but Adelina Berisha kept American alive with a kill before Crawford put away the final point with a kill.
Loyola will close the regular season on Friday, November 15, with a 7 p.m. home match against Bucknell University.
