Early in the first set, the Norse are trailing 7-4. Griffin Wheatley has the serve after they gained a point from a Dax Wittren kill. Wheatley jumps up and hits the ball. “Smack,” the ball goes flying over the net.
Loyola’s libero JJ Sowa digs it up, hitting it to Ryan McElligott, who quickly sets it up for Daniel Fabikovic. Fabikovic winds up “Wack.” He hits the ball flying straight to NKU’s Leo Trespeces-Winck.
Trespeces-Winck dives somehow, hitting it up. The ball goes towards NKU’s bench. Will McElveen went for it, but couldn’t get it, as the Ramblers gained the point, 8-4. Then, after that, Loyola Chicago went on a 5-0 run, not looking back. The number seven team in the country dominated the rest of the game, coasting to a 3-0 win over the Norse on March. 21.
This loss for NKU puts them at 3-14 overall and 0-10 in conference play, while the Ramblers move to 14-6 overall and 8-3 in conference play.
Fabikovic was the big hitter of the game, having 10 kills, four blocked assists and two digs. On the Norse side, Matt Cosgrove had five kills, five digs and an ace.
In the first set and the second, it was all Ramblers, as in the first set, they won 25-9, and in the second, 25-12.
The third set is where the game became a fight as the Norse battled back and forth, having a one-point lead, 6-5. Loyola Chicago retained the lead throughout the set, but NKU didn’t go away, keeping it close until the end, where the Ramblers closed it out 25-20.
Even in the loss, Jim Palilonis’ squad kept smiling and having fun on the court. Palilonis stresses to his team that each point matters and having fun and fighting to the end is key for his team to win.
“I’ve seen it all before; it literally comes down to the last point of the last game for a tie-break scenario,” Palilonis said. “The big emphasis was, regardless of how we played in the first two games, you know, understanding every point matters, and so just going out and playing your best.”
NKU made a late spark at the end of the game in the final set of the game, pushing Loyola Chicago to a five-point win, 25-20. Palilonis likes the fight from his team day in and day out.
“What we showed on Thursday night, staying in matches, continuing to fight when we were down two games to one on Thursday and down four points in a game,” Palilonis said. “Then even here, being down two games and the back and forth, keeping it tight. I think that attitude is one of the things that we started talking about them coming around with the idea that you guys belong in this conference.”