Francis' Double-Double Spurs Loyola to Sweep of DePaul, 3-0 - Loyola University Chicago Official Athletic Site

Aug. 28, 2010

Box Score

CHICAGO - Senior Colleen Francis recorded her first double-double of the season and middles Mallory Curran and Natalie Pounovich also had solid nights as Loyola earned its first win of the 2010 season with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-15) win over DePaul in the consolation match of the Chicago Classic at McGrath Arena in Lincoln Park.

"I could not be happier with how we responded, as a team, after last night," said head coach Marcie Wolbeck. "We stuck to the game plan all the way through and cleaned up some of the early-season mistakes that we made last night. All in all, we did the things that we needed to do to go out and put one in the victory column."

Loyola jumped on DePaul from the opening serve, scoring the first three points of the match and opening up an 8-3 lead on a Pounovich ace. Sophomore Karen Sueppel had two kills and combined with Curran for a block in a 6-1 LU run that helped the Ramblers open a commanding 13-5 lead. Back-to-back Francis kills later made it an 18-6 spread and Pounovich closed out the opening set later with a kill. The Ramblers were on fire, collectively, in the opening frame, pounding away at a .444 clip (18-2-36) as a team.

The second set was more competitive, as the teams were tied six different times to get to 8-all. Two kills apiece from Curran and Francis helped Loyola move out to a 12-8 lead but the Blue Demons roared back with their best spell of the match, reeling off the next seven tallies to snatch a 15-12 lead. Undaunted, the Ramblers regrouped and answered with a 6-0 run of their own to retake the lead and kept pushing, eventually closing out the set with a 13-4 run to seal a 25-19 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The third set followed a similar template, with seven ties to get the teams to 12-12. A kill by Pounovich gave the Ramblers the ball with a 13-12 lead and they wasted no time putting the game, and match, away. Freshman setter Natalie Fiore, with the help of four Francis kills, managed to serve up nine straight points to give LU a 22-12 lead and a Curran kill minutes later closed out the match.

Loyola slugged away at a .296 efficiency for the match while its defense helped limit the Blue Demons to a .043 figure. In addition, the Ramblers enjoyed a 54-44 edge in digs and a 7-2 advantage at the service line.

"I thought we served much more effectively tonight," said Wolbeck. "We did not have one single ace last night so to come out and have seven in just three sets tells me that we were more aggressive and were more effective in keeping them out of system offensively."

Francis led the way with 16 kills and 16 digs while middles Pounovich (12 kills, .524 hitting percentage) and Curran (eight kills, .583 efficiency) took care of things in the middle. Fiore doled out 33 assists to go with three aces and eight digs while Cat Languido recorded a career-best 14 digs from her libero spot.

Loyola returns to action on Tuesday night (Aug. 31) when it travels to Bloomington, Ill. to face Illinois State in a 7 p.m. start.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
- Sabel Moffett, Northwestern (MVP)
- Colleen Francis, Loyola
- Elyse Glab, Northwestern
- Naomi Johnson, Northwestern
- Chelsea Kirkpatrick, DePaul
- Casie Sullivan, UIC