LORETTO, Pa. – Senior setter Shane Conley (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Allegheny) and junior opposite Jordan Varee (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) (Conneautville, Pa. / Conneaut Valley) closed in on a pair of career milestones, but Loyola-Chicago hit .408 to defeat the Saint Francis men's volleyball team 3-1 on Friday night at DeGol Arena.
Conley had 39 assists to bring his school-record total to 3,960, 40 shy of 4,000, and Varee added a match-high 24 kills to bring his career total to 1,135. He is now 13 kills shy of tying former teammate, and AVCA All-American, Marc Honore (San Fernando, Trinidad/Naparima) for the school's all-time mark. However, the Ramblers had four players in double digit kills to take the 30-19, 27-30, 30-20, 30-26 win.
SFU fell to 10-9 on the season, and will look to bounce back with a 7 p.m. Saturday contest against IPFW, at DeGol Arena.
Nick Lamoureux had 17 kills and three service aces, and hit .565, for Loyola-Chicago, while Michael Morice added 13 kills, a .667 hitting percentage and three blocks.
The Ramblers used a 10-4 run to turn a 4-3 lead into a seven point advantage in the first set. They held Saint Francis to an .037 hitting percentage in the set, and had four service aces in claiming a 30-19 win.
The second set was a tight contest the entire way, but it looked as if LUC could pull away when it won two straight serves to jump out 17-13. However, the Red Flash went on a 6-1 run to pull ahead 19-18. The teams traded points all the way until a 27-27 tie was broken with a kill by Varee. Varee had another kill before junior Pete Freyer (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) (Orchard, Park, N.Y. / Orchard Park) closed out a 30-27 SFU win with an ace.
Loyola-Chicago jumped out 7-2 in the third set and never looked back in a 10-point victory, 30-20. The Ramblers hit .536 in the set, including a 1.000 hitting percentage from Lamoureux, who had six kills to spark the win.
LUC took an early 5-1 lead in the fourth set, but Saint Francis battled back to tie it up at 11-11. However, the Ramblers won the next three serves and never trailed again in clinching the match, 30-26.
Junior Nick Rivett (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Fox Chapel) had nine kills and five digs, Freyer added 10 kills, a .500 hitting percentage, two aces and three blocks, and freshman John Wappler (Warrendale, Pa. / North Allegheny) had seven digs.
