Loyola gives Volleyball fourth loss

After winning the first game of the match, the Penn volleyball team lost three straight games to Loyola. Loyola did its best imitation of an opossum last night at the Palestra, playing dead for a game before peeking its head out and grabbing the last three to take the match. The Penn volleyball team (1-4) took the first game 15-13, but Loyola (2-10) adjusted and won the next three 16-14, 15-9, 15-9. "They changed their offense from game one to game four," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "We covered our problem areas and they adjusted to them. They found our holes and we simply didn't adapt when they changed their play." The first game was dominated by Penn early with Loyola making a late charge. Conversely, in the second game Loyola dominated the game early, taking a commanding 10-3 lead. Penn, however, came back to tie the score at 11. But the momentum once again switched and Loyola won 16-14. "The second game was tough," senior co-captain Katy Stock said. "When you come all the way back, you can't lose the game when you have the momentum." The third game was close in the outset with neither team taking more than a two-point lead. With the score knotted 8-8, the Greyhounds pulled away and didn't look back. The Quakers jumped out to a quick 4-0 in the fourth game, but Loyola quickly tied it up at 9. Penn didn't win another point as they seemed to self-destruct by missing serves and not communicating on the court. With the win, Loyola has its first two-game winning streak of the season after losing its first 10. "We came out kind of flat in the first game, but after that game we talked and the players understood their roles on the team and they settled down and started playing," Loyola coach Angie Rutledge said. Flat or not, the Quakers believe that they should have won the game. "We're a better team than they," Stock said. Freshman Jodie Antypas agreed that Penn should not have come out on the short end. "After the first game, we let them into the match and they adjusted to our style of play," she explained. "We let them play their game instead of playing our game." Ironically, the Greyhounds committed more errors than Penn. "We beat them in all statistical categories, which means we should have beaten them in the final score," Major said. For example, Penn committed 13 service errors, way too many, according to Major. Loyola, however, committed 23. On defense, the Quakers had 82 digs compared to 69 by the Greyhounds. Despite losing to a team they should have beaten, the Quakers believe there were some positive aspects to this match. "We played better defense today, better free ball and better down ball," Major said. In addition, Antypas believes that the team's communication and connecting with the middle players on the court also improved. Stock asserted that the loss will make the team mentally tougher for the next game. All players and coaches, however, agree that the team has a lot to work on. "We need to work on picking up ball tips, adjusting our offense and hitting balls to the holes," Major said. Penn will try to improve on these parts of its game over the weekend when they play Georgetown and Navy at the Georgetown tournament. Georgetown beat Loyola 3-0, so the team knows they have a tough road ahead. "It just gets tougher," Major said. "But we know we are getting better every game and we have to keep building on that."

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