Oct. 10, 2010
By: Robert Ivory
CHICAGO, Illinois - Although Kara Koch had 14 kills and Jackie Dabbelt had 11 kills, the Cleveland State Vikings fell to Loyola in four sets at Alumni Gym in Chicago, IL.
"They played better than us," head coach Chuck Voss said. "This is as great place to play and they were able to feed off the crowd. I would imagine that this is this best game of the year. They played well off the emotion of their crowd tonight."
The Vikings suffer just their second loss of the year, their first on the road, and move to 15-2 and drop to 6-2 in Horizon League play. Loyola are now 9-10 on the year and 2-6 in the league.
Match scores were 26-24, 14-25, 23-25, and 22-25
The first set had all the drama as the momentum shifted between the two sides. Seven different Vikings had a kill in the first set, but Loyola equaled the Vikings until the end of the set. Loyola had set point at 24-23, but Cleveland State rallied for the next three points and took the first set 26-24.
In the beginning of the second set, Cleveland State rolled out to a 5-2 lead, but the Ramblers tied it at nine. Loyola then went on a nine point run and lead 17-10.they would get the next eight out of 12 and won the second set, 25-14.
"We had some girls that were hurting today," Voss said. "They deserved the win, they just outplayed us."
Errors plagued the Vikings all night as they finished with 8 service errors and hit just .155 for the match. Amy Benz was held to just seven kills
Cleveland State had to rally from being down 7-12. The Vikes rallied to get the set within one at 23-24, but Loyola got the match point they needed. The Vikings only hit .047 in the set.
The Vikings would not lead in the last set and Loyola kept lead they needed. However, the Vikings got six straight points to bring it close at 22-20, but Loyola scored the last three of four points for the win.
The Vikings now returns to Cleveland to face the University of Illinois-Chicago Friday night (Oct 15) at Woodling Gym.
