Chicago, Illinois – No. 7 Loyola Chicago opened their season with a 3-2 victory over No. 1 UC Irvine at Gentile Arena Thursday.
The top-ranked Anteaters, who drop their first match of the season (2-1), were led by senior outside hitter Jeremy Dejno with 15 kills, two aces and three block assists. Freshman Tamir Hershko had a career-best 14 kills, while junior Zack La Cavera added 11 kills. Middle blockers Scott Kevorken and Collin Mehring totaled eight and seven kills, respectively. Mehring had a team-high four total blocks. Libero Michael Brinkley had a match-best 16 digs and setter Michael Saeta recorded 40 set assists, five digs and three blocks.
Loyola out-blocked UCI 12-7.5 and out-hit the Anteaters .263-.248.
The Ramblers were led by Joe Smalzer with 15 kills, 13 digs and three aces followed by Cody Caldwell with 13 kills and eight digs Thomas Jaeschke with 11 kills. Nicholas Olson had a match-high nine total blocks.
Loyola went on a 3-0 run and opened a 10-7 lead in the first set. An Anteater service error started a 5-0 spurt to extend the Rambler lead to 15-8. UCI rallied on a 6-1 run that included four Loyola attack errors to narrow the margin to 17-15. Loyola answered with three straight kills to go up 20-15. A kill and ace by Zack La Cavera followed by a kill by Tamir Hershko got UCI to 21-19. Following an Anteater service error, kills by La Cavera and Dejno plus a Rambler attack error tied the score at 22-22. Loyola held set point 24-23 before a pair of Dejno kills was followed by a Loyola error to give UCI the game 26-24.
In the second set, a service error by Loyola was followed by a solo block by Collin Mehring and a service ace by Michael Saeta to give UCI a 12-9 advantage. Three straight UCI errors gave Loyola the 16-15 lead and a kill and an ace put the Ramblers ahead 20-18. Loyola would score five of the final six points to win the set 25-19.
Loyola would hold a 19-15 lead in the third set before UCI went on a 6-1 run to take a 21-20. The Ramblers would score the final three points of the set, the last two UCI attack errors to win 26-24.
Kills by Connor Hughes and Dejno plus a Hughes service ace gave the Anteaters a 9-5 lead in the fourth set. A Dejno kill and ace and a Rambler attack error gave UCI the 15-9 advantage. A kill and ace by Tamir Hershko and another Rambler error forced Loyola to call a timeout at 19-13. UCI would win the set 25-17 and force a fifth game.
UCI started with a 5-3 lead in the final set before Loyola ran off four straight points to take the 7-5 advantage and never trailed again winning the game 15-12 and the match 3-2. The Ramblers hit .562 (11-2-16) in the final set.
UCI is back in action Saturday (Jan. 4) traveling to Ball State for a 4:30 p.m. PT first serve.
