Monday, March 9, 2015 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago
That's no typo, and it's not just MIVA seedings. That's the #1 team in the national rankings against #2 (at least before the next AVCA rankings are released on Monday). Loyola has won 40 consecutive matches dating back to January 2014. Lewis has won 14 of 15 matches this season-- including an impressive 3-0 win at UC Irvine (currently #3, with one first place vote)-- and their only loss was in five sets vs. BYU (currently #4, with one first place vote).
Except for the loss to BYU in Palo Alto, the Flyers have mostly sailed through their schedule, sweeping 10 of their 15 matches and only being forced to 5 sets once. The one time was the BYU loss, when the Flyers nearly came back from an 0-2 deficit. Lewis' senior OH Geoff Powell is on his way to another All America season, and the rest of the team is very deep and highly experienced (three seniors, two juniors, and one sophomore in their starting lineup). Twelve different Flyers have appeared in 10 or more sets this season.
The Ramblers are adjusting to a new starting lineup this season, and are dealing with a foot injury to junior MH Nick Olson. Without Olson-- the only Loyola player to play every set last season-- the Ramblers start one senior (Cody Caldwell), two juniors (Thomas Jaeschke, Peter Hutz), a sophomore (Owen McAndrews), and two freshmen (Ben Plaisted, Jeff Jendryk). One of the biggest adjustments the defending champs have dealt with is the missing leadership of Joe Smalzer, who was a steadying presence and a great server.
Loyola has really struggled with its service this season, committing 193 service errors in 44 sets played. That's 4.39 service errors per set this year as opposed to 3.58 per set last season. Lewis, by comparison, has only committed 169 service errors in 51 sets (3.31 per set). Last year the Ramblers had a .48 aces to errors ratio, while this year it's only .39 thus far. The Flyers have a .46 ratio this season.
The Loyola bench is also much thinner this season, as only nine players have played in 10 or more sets, and Olson's injury may leave the Ramblers with only eight tested players available. Meanwhile, Lewis has 12 players seeing significant court appearances and 16 players that have registered a kill this season.
Home court advantage, a big crowd, and a week off for rest might be just be enough to push the Ramblers through to victory, but Lewis will be a very tough matchup for Loyola in the first ever MIVA conference match between #1 and #2.
Loyola match notes:
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 309aaa.pdfLewis match notes:
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... a_lewi.pdfStreaming video: ESPN3 (
http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id ... la-Chicago)