Clemson Box Score
Loyola Box Score
CHICAGO — The Western Illinois volleyball team closed out its stay at the DePaul Challenge Saturday with a pair of 3-0 losses to Clemson and Loyola.
The Fighting Leathernecks (2-6) fell to the Tigers 17-25, 16-25, 17-25 early in the day before dropping straight sets 19-25, 21-25, 23-25 in the afternoon game.
A tall, physical Clemson team used a .400 to .179 advantage in hitting percentage to overwhelm the Western defense in the first match. Western played close with the Tigers early in all three sets only to have the Clemson go on late runs each time.
Western led early in the first frame and held a tie at 12-12 before Clemson went on a 10-1 run to put the set out of reach. Likewise in the third set, Western led 14-10 before the Tigers went on an 11-0 run to again take a lead the Leathernecks couldn't overcome.
“This morning we came out very flat. Against Clemson, We lacked all the intangibles we preach about,” said Western Illinois coach Kym McKay. “It was very disappointing to see that, because even though Clemson had a physical presence, I felt that there were a lot of aspects of our game that could have been successful in that match. We just didn't bring it.”
Allison Gilbert had nine kills to pace Western against the Tigers while
Krissy Bergquist and
Megan Toczek each chipped in seven.
Ellen Miller had 27 assists and nine digs to fall just short of her fourth-consecutive double-double and
Elise Crnjak chipped in 10 digs.
McKay said the inconsistencies from the Clemson game carried over into the afternoon match against the Ramblers.
“Loyola was coming off a tough loss to DePaul, so we knew they were going to come out firing,” McKay said. “They didn't want to be 0-3 (in the tournament). We knew we were going to have a tough match there and we didn't bring what we needed to bring.”
Loyola held a 8-4 blocking edge over the Leathenecks and recorded 44 kills compared to Western's 36. The numbers against Loyola didn't reveal as big a gap as they did with Clemson, but McKay said Loyola clearly played better ball.
“When you are playing against a team that has the intangibles, it's going to be a match like it ended up being,” McKay said.
Cait Egan had 11 kills and hit for a .364 clip to lead the Leathernecks against the Ramblers while Miller had 29 assists and Crnjak chipped in 14 digs.
McKay said despite finishing the tournament losing six consecutive sets, the team was able to take some positives out of the weekend, which saw Western go 1-2.
“Our serve receive was very strong this weekend. That is something we struggled with last weekend,” McKay said. “We had the best quality of serve receive in the gym this tournament.”
Clemson (5-1) went on to win the tournament while DePaul (3-3) placed second, Loyola (3-4) was third and the Leathernecks took fourth.
Western next travels to Cedar Falls Iowa Wednesday, Sept. 9, to take on Northern Iowa.
