Four Loyola seniors on the volleyball team made sure they won their final home game on Senior Night against the Mobile Rams at the Den. Mary Seals, accounting senior, Sarah Howard, marketing senior, Stacey Kersten, mass communication senior, and Keelyn Henderson, finance/international business senior, were honored before the game, along with their parents. They were each given flowers and collages of pictures honoring their time playing for the Wolfpack. They then led their team to a comeback win.
The first set had each team trading kills to make the score 6-6. After a Loyola timeout, ‘Pack errors made the score 16-20. After kills by Seals and Lindsay Mullinix, general business freshmen, the ‘Pack took the lead 23-22, but would go on to lose the set 23-25.
The second set had the ‘Pack jumping out to a 7-3 lead thanks to kills by Gina Gill, psychology freshmen, Kristie Hadley, sociology sophomore, Mullinix and Seals. But Mobile took the lead after a 7-1 run, making the score 8-10. The ‘Pack never regained the lead and lost the set 20-25.
With their backs against the wall, the ‘Pack needed a win in the third set to stay in the game. After a kill by Gill gave the ‘Pack a 14-13 lead, they never looked back in the set. They got kills from Megan Matthews, psychology freshman, Hadley, Mullinix, Seals and Gill on their way to a 23-16 lead. After a Mobile serve into the net, the ‘Pack scored the game point on a kill by Gill to win 25-17.
In the fourth set, the ‘Pack jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, and they would never let go of the lead, winning the game 25-21 and tying the match at 2-2 going into the fifth and final set.
In the fifth set, the ‘Pack was clearly not going to be beaten as they jumped out to an early 6-2 lead with kills by Gill, Seals and Howard. A Mobile serve went into the net making it 14-9. The final play was fitting of Senior Night, as three seniors touched the ball, with Seals, Loyola’s career kills leader, scoring the kill and match point to win the set 15-9 and complete the comeback.
“It was a great, great battle. The seniors came out. It was their night. We told them, ‘Hey, what do you want to make of it?’ and they came out, worked their butts off, and we talked about being better for two and a half hours,” Coach Tommy Harold, “That’s a good team we just played, and they weren’t going to lie down for us, and we’re going to have to earn everything we got.”
“It’s Senior Night. These kids have been through a lot,” Harold said. “They’ve been through two seasons where they’ve lost matches to hurricanes. They’ve worked hard, and they wanted it.”
Each senior contributed to the victory. Seals had 24 kills, Henderson had 19 digs and Kersten also had nine digs. The last member of the class, Howard, contributed assists on 40 of the ‘Pack’s points scored.
When asked how they felt before the game, the seniors all had a different response.
“I was crying,” Kersten said. “I was kind of excited, nervous all day you know, a little bit of both feelings. I wrote letters to my parents; that made me cry.”
Henderson was just tired of Mobile.
“I think we were sick of losing to Mobile. And I think we knew it was time to turn it on,” Henderson said.
“I was so nervous before the start of the game,” Howard said. “Once you get playing, you zone out. I’ve been doing this for ten years so it becomes habit.”
When asked what they would remember about their years at Loyola, both Henderson and Kersten had a common answer.
“All the girls. I mean, this team wouldn’t be what it is without every single member of this team. All the girls, they’ve been just one big memory,” Henderson said.
“You know what, everything,” Kersten said. “I almost didn’t come to Loyola at first. I’m so glad I did. I love the girls. I’ve made the best friends of my life on this team, and we’ll be friends forever. I’ll remember every bit of it.”
Harold is going to have his own memories of these seniors.
“Just their resiliency. They never quit, they have had times through their career coming back from Katrina, coming back from Gustav, us being down, us being overmatched, and they just keep fighting and fighting and exceeding what their physical abilities are with their mental toughness,” Harold said.
“The last play was a dig by a senior, a set by a senior and a kill by a senior so it couldn’t have been better,” said Henderson.
Michael Dewey can be reached at [email protected].
