Wichita State volleyball edges Loyola in five sets

Wichita State’s volleyball team beat Loyola 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-13) on Friday afternoon in Chicago to maintain its hold on first place in the Missouri Valley Conference.

WSU trailed 9-4 in the fifth set, then ran off seven straight points that included two kills by Mikaela Raudespp to go ahead 11-9. The teams traded points, and a service ace by Loyola’s Alex Nunez tied the score 13-13, but she followed with a service error to put WSU ahead 14-13, and the match ended on a Loyola attack error.

After a slow start to the first set, WSU took its first lead at 14-13 and finished the set with an 11-5 run. Shimen Fayad had four kills in the set and Abbie Lehman had three. WSU let a 7-2 lead in the second set slip away, with Loyola getting a 24-21 lead and holding on. The Shockers took the lead early in the third set and ended it with a kill by Raudsepp. WSU let the fourth set slip away after taking a 13-10 lead.

Raudsepp and Fayad each had 13 kills for WSU, Lehman had 11 kills and seven blocks, and Katie Reilly had 11 kills and hit .391. Emily Hiebert finished with 42 assists.

The Shockers (22-7, 13-2 MVC) play at Bradley on Saturday night.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Wichita State volleyball edges Loyola in five sets."