No. 18 McKendree puts end to No. 6/6 Loyola undefeated run, wins in five games

The undefeated streak is over for No. 6/6 Loyola – courtesy of No. 18 McKendree.

McKendree had a season-high 11 aces as it defeated Loyola 26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-13 on Saturday in Lebanon, Illinois, to end the Ramblers’ season-opening an 11-match winning streak.

Setter Nathan Flayter led all players with three aces, including an ace during a 4-1 run to start the decisive fifth game. Pin-hitters Nikos Xydakis and Kevin Schuele each also had two aces in McKendree’s first win this season against a top-10 ranked team.

McKendree (6-5, 3-1 MIVA) finished with eight more aces than Loyola and 14 fewer service errors. The Ramblers (11-1, 3-1 MIVA) committed a season-high 31 service errors with 10 of those errors occurring in the opening game.

Despite the loss, Loyola out-hit McKendree .298 to .171. The Bearcats, though, limited the Ramblers to less than .200 attack percentage in each of the final two games.

McKendree defensively had four players with double-digit digs highlighted with Yadiel Diaz who had a match-high with 18 digs.

Xydakis added 11 digs along with a team-high 14 kills. In addition, pin-hitter Sam Hoskin contributed 14 digs and 10 kills with three of those kills coming in the final game.

Loyola opposite Parker Van Buren in the loss had a match-high 27 kills on a .344 attack percentage.

This season-best performance was the third third time in the last five matches that Van Buren had at least 20 kills. Van Buren also had 18 kills and hit .548 in a sweep against McKendree last week.