Box Score CHICAGO – The Indiana State volleyball team reeled off three-straight set wins to come back and defeat Loyola, 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-22) Friday night at Gentile Arena. The win also served as head coach Traci Dahl-Skinner's 100th career victory.
Dahl-Skinner becomes the first coach in program history to reach the 100-win plateau.
The Sycamores (9-10, 3-6 MVC) were led by a trio of players on the offensive side of the ball. Kynedi Nalls paced the squad with a team-high 14 kills on the night while Cassie Kawa went for 12 and Damadj Johnson recorded 10.
Johnson was extremely efficient on the night, hitting at a clip of .769 (10-0-12) while Kawa recorded six of her 12 kills in the first set. Halle Lueck (22) and Rachel Griffin (18) split setting duties on the night while Shannon Murphy led the team with 15 digs.
Griffin, an Avon, Indiana native, recorded her sixth double-double of the season after adding 14 digs for the Sycamores.
Loyola (10-13, 5-5 MVC) jumped out to a 1-0 set lead after a hot start on the offensive side of the ball. The Ramblers were able to ramp up their attacking percent to .286 in the opening set while the Sycamores were held to just .200. Indiana State looked poised to take the opener leading by three at the midway point, but Loyola rallied to tie it at 19 before a 6-2 run secured the set win for the home squad.
That was when the Sycamore offense came to life and did not look back for the remainder of the match. Battling a young Rambler squad, the offense began to attack the middle of the net and it paid dividends as Johnson racked up attack after attack at the middle of the net.
Indiana State's offense outhit Loyola in the final three sets, hitting its stride in the second set when the squad recorded a .375 attacking percent. The Sycamores were also able to keep control of the match by limiting the number of errors after the opener. ISU recorded seven of its 14 errors in the first set.
As a team, Indiana State hit .308 on the night while holding the Ramblers to .225. LUC did hold a slight advantage in service aces at 5-3. Murphy paced ISU with two while Griffin had one.
The Sycamores even the season series with Loyola with the win. The Ramblers defeated ISU in Terre Haute September 24, 3-2.
Indiana State returns to action Saturday as they face MVC foe Bradley in Peoria starting at 8 p.m. (ET). The match will be streamed live on ESPN3.
