BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland came back from a Navy match-point in the fourth set to win the stanza and push the match to a fifth where the Greyhounds rallied again to post a 25-21, 25-27, 21-25, 26-24, 18-16 Patriot League victory over the Midshipmen in Reitz Arena on Saturday evening.
Navy took a 24-23 lead and had match-point in the fourth set after a Farrah Eike kill, but the Greyhounds scored the set's last three points including the final two on kills by
Kacy Sekunda and
Ellie Joffe to extend the match to a fifth.
The Midshipmen went up 3-0 in the fifth with a trio of kills, and they led 4-1 when Ava Toppin put away a kill, but Loyola quickly came back and to even at 4-4 on a Sekunda kill and go up, 5-4, on an
Addie Lowe swing.
Sekunda and Lowe had back-to-back kills to make it 8-5 in the Greyhounds' favor at the side switch, and Loyola led 11-8 following a
Riley Hamilton swing for a kill that forced a Navy timeout.
The Midshipmen came out of the break with a Siena Morgan kill, and then Morgan and Toppin paired for a block to draw within a point, 11-10.
Navy appeared to tie the set at 11-11, but Loyola Head Coach
Alija Pittenger challenged a play, and the review showed the Midshipmen were in the net on a block of a Joffe kill, overturning the point and giving the Greyhounds a 12-10 advantage.
Loyola had its first match-point at 14-13 after a Sekunda kill, but Toppin came back with a kill and then she teamed with Grace Burgoyne for a block to swing the match-point to Navy's side at 15-14.
Loyola called a timeout, and
Mariah Sanabia put away a kill on an overpass, and
Morgan Crawford connected for a kill to make it 16-15 Greyhounds.
Eike evened the score with a Navy kill, but her attack error made it 17-16 Loyola. Hamilton then hit around a Navy block for the final point of the match.
Three Greyhounds had 10 or more kills in the match, led by Lowe's career-high 17. Hamilton's match-clinching kill gave her 16 to match her career-best from 2023 against Stony Brook, and Sekunda put up her third triple-double in as many matches with 13 kills, 23 assists and a career-high 22 digs. Crawford and Joffe both had eight kills, and Sanabia put away five, all in the final three sets.
Hamilton also had a career-high with 21 digs, and
Addie Huber led the Greyhounds with 27 digs, one off her career-high from a week ago.
Leah Hunter led Loyola with four aces and also had 10 digs.
The Greyhounds will be back in Reitz Arena on Sunday afternoon for a 2 o'clock match against American.
