Volleyball loses in conference finals, takes home 17 postseason awards

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The Wolf Pack volleyball team gathers during a March 13 victory against Brewton-Parker. Loyola advanced to the SSAC Championship Game for the first time in program history on Saturday. Hannah Renton/The Maroon

Brendan Heffernan

The Loyola volleyball team’s four-game win streak came to an end Saturday afternoon.

The team lost to the University of Mobile 1-3 in the Southern States Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship Finals match.

The Wolf Pack needed to beat the Rams twice in a row in order to win the double-elimination tournament and bring home the program’s first SSAC championship.

Loyola beat Mobile 3-2 earlier in the day to force a second match, but they came up short, losing in the second game.

The Wolf Pack lost to the Rams in the second game of the tournament Friday morning before rattling off four consecutive victories to advance to the Championship Round.

Loyola’s volleyball team had never advanced to the SSAC Championship Game.

Loyola took home 17 total postseason awards including Defensive Player of the Year for Senior Helene Masone and Assistant Coach of the Year for Robert Pitre.

Freshman Emily Sheparis, Sophomore Brittany Cooper and Masone were each named First Team All-SSAC, Junior Kailyn O’Neal and Freshman Jules Mokry were selected Second Team All-SSAC and Sheperis and Mokry each earned a spot on the SSAC All-Freshman team. Seven Wolf Pack volleyball players made the conference’s All-Academic team.