The Wolf Pack made their first mark in the win column on day two of the Wolf Pack Welcome Tournament with a victory of three sets to one over Webber International University(Fla.) and a game against Texas Wesleyan University to close out the two day event.
Game 1
The Wolf Pack would come out of the gate slow and drop the first set to the Warriors 25-19 before rallying to take the second set 25-16 and tie the match at one game a piece.
Loyola would then take control in the third set of the match and win 25-14 before closing the game in the fourth set with another 25-16 result.
The Pack (1-6) was led by graduate senior middle blocker Amaya Bazemore, who led the team in kills and blocks with 11 and seven respectively, sophomore setter Ellie Connor, who had 21 assists and 4 service aces, and senior setter Gabriella Masiello, who finished with 17 assists and 12 digs.
Game 2
The final game of the tournament saw the Wolf Pack square off against the Texas Wesleyan University Rams, who were also placed in the receiving votes category of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Preseason rankings with Loyola.
The Rams would win a tightly contested first set 25-23 and take control of the game in the second set with a 25-15 victory and would claim a third set 25-18 victory to win the match and end the game.
“We were kind of up and down this weekend, but we have a lot of new players on the floor,” said head coach Jesse Zabal. “We’ve talked a lot about how relatively young and inexperienced we are. But we’re learning and growing, we’re still in our infancy stages and only a couple weekends into the season, so we hope to keep growing as the season goes on.”
The Pack were led once again by senior middle blocker Amaya Bazemore, who had eight kills and three blocks, and senior setter Gabriella Masiello, who finished with 11 assists, giving her double digit assists in five consecutive games.
This tournament is the second of three tournaments to open Loyola’s season, with seven of the Wolf Pack’s first 12 games coming against teams that are either ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA rankings.
“I think that playing a tough early schedule will benefit us later once we get into our conference schedule,” said Zabal. “The level of competition isn’t quite as grueling in conference as it is against these teams we’re playing early, so it helps us to prepare and play at a really fast pace so that we can play our conference games at a much faster pace than our conference opponents might be used to or comfortable with.”
The Wolf Pack will be back in action on Aug. 29 in the Big Easy Blastoff against Marian University (Ind.) at the Xavier University of Louisiana Convocation Center.
