No. 12 Loyola Drops Five-Game Match at No. 5 IPFW, 3-2 :: Ramblers pick up victories in first two games but can't find third

Feb. 2, 2007

Fort Wayne, Ind. - For the second time in two weeks, the No. 12 Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team lost a five-game match (30-28, 31-29, 22-30, 22-30, 9-15) to No. 5 IPFW. Similar to the first match between the two schools earlier this season on Jan. 19, the Ramblers won the first two games but failed to clinch the match on Friday night in front of 1,558 fans at the Gates Center in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Loyola (5-3, 1-2 MIVA) was led on the attack for the seventh match this season by 18 kills from junior opposite hitter Ian Anderson. Anderson also added five digs, two blocks and one service ace.

Setter Brian Guntli registered a solid performance in all facets of the game with six kills on nine attempts for a match-high .667 hitting percentage (6-0-9) while coordinating the Rambler attack with a team-high 50 assists. The St. Louis, Mo., native also notched a team-high four blocks and six digs.

Senior middle blocker James Grunst accumulated 10 kills on 19 attempts. With only three errors on the attack, Grunst had a .368 hitting percentage to go along with three blocks.

Despite being outhit .272 to .200 in the first two games, the Ramblers pulled out a pair of victories to gain control of the match. In game one, Loyola registered 5.5 blocks while IPFW had six service errors. Anderson notched seven kills, including the go-ahead and game-winning tallies, in the second set to lead Loyola.

Although IPFW was charged with 22 service errors while Loyola had 14, the Mastodons served 12 aces compared to four for the Ramblers. IPFW's Brock Ulrich had a match-high two service aces.

Defensively, IPFW outblocked Loyola 10 to 6. Along with Anderson, Brian Guntli and Grunst, Nick Lamoureux had two block solos and one block assist as the only other Rambler to register multiple blocks in the match. Libero Zach Bailey led the Loyola back row with eight digs for the sixth match this season.

The Mastodons (7-0, 2-0 MIVA) were led by 25 kills, five digs, three blocks from C.J. Macias. Josh Stewart added 22 kills and three blocks while setter Colin Lundeen had a match-high 61 assists.

The Ramblers travel to Dubuque, Iowa on Sunday for a match against the Clarke Crusaders. First serve is set for noon.