LEBANON, Ill. - For the first time ever McKendree University men's volleyball beat Loyola Chicago on Thursday night at the Melvin Price Convocation Center in an epic five set match. This is the second win for the Bearcats over nationally ranked opponents as they took down then ranked No. 12 Ohio State on Feb. 10 and tonight as the Ramblers were No. 14.
The Bearcats battled back from two sets down to pull off the comeback in five sets as they fell 25-18 and 25-23 in the first two sets before rattling off three straight set wins behind 25-17, 25-18 and 15-13 set wins. With the win the Bearcats improved to 7-4 and 4-1 in Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association while Loyola falls to 8-6 and 4-1 MIVA play. The Bearcats, Loyola and Ball State are all 4-1 in MIVA play with Ball State holding the tiebreaker over McKendree and the Bearcats having the tiebreaker over Loyola.
The Bearcats held the advantage with 7.5 total team blocks compared to Loyola as the Ramblers had six. The Ramblers also committed 29 serve errors and 22 attack errors whereas the Bearcats had 20 serve errors and 14 attack errors in which five of those attack errors were in sets 3-5.
McKendree recorded 45 kills with five Bearcats recording five or more kills in the win. Graduate student outside hitter Patrick Ross (Anthem, Ariz./Boulder Creek) paced the Bearcats with 11 kills. Graduate student outside hitter Ethan Carroll (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) and redshirt junior middle blocker Daniel Duggan (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) recorded 10 kills each while Duggan also hit .667. Duggan's 10 kills were a career high as he recorded the 10 kills off the bench. Redshirt senior setter Ryan Serrano (Phoenix, Ariz./Boulder Creek) added six kills and added 34 assists.
Redshirt senior outside hitter Brendon Dunn (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Notre Dame) was the final Bearcat with five or more kills as he recorded five kills. Ross also added three serve aces, while Duggan and Dunn added two serve aces each.
Defensively, the Bearcats had five players record five or more digs as Serrano and senior libero Francisco Comas (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) both recorded 10 digs. Dunn added eight digs while Ross and Carroll had five each. Duggan and redshirt junior middle blocker Jacob Gall (Fairview Heights, Ill./Althoff Catholic) recorded three block assists each while Serrano, Ross and Dunn had two block assists and Carroll recorded a solo block and a block assist.
Serrano recorded his third double-double this season and the 14th of his career with his 34 assists and 10 digs. His last double-double was eight days ago when he recorded 30 assists and 10 digs at Quincy.
Loyola was led by Parker Van Buren as he recorded a game-high of 26 kills for the Ramblers. Cole Schlothauer recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs along with Garrett Zolg recording 45 assists and a game-high 12 digs while Henry Payne added eight kills. Loyola recorded 60 kills as a team and 49 digs as a team.
The Bearcats return to action on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 5 p.m. central at Gates Sports Center on the campus of Purdue University Fort Wayne as the Bearcats take on the Mastodons.
