MOBILE, Ala. - The University of Mobile Volleyball team hosted the Loyola University Wolf Pack in what was tabbed as the SSAC Volleyball Game of the Week on Saturday, Oct. 16. Saturday afternoon's match featured two top teams in the current SSAC Volleyball standings, with Mobile trailing Loyola by just one game. In Saturday's match at Pharr Gymnasium, the Rams fell to the Wolf Pack in four sets, 17-25, 18-25, 25-18, 19-25. Loyola managed to sweep Mobile in both matches played during the 2021 regular season.
On Saturday, offense was hard to come by for the Rams. Mobile Head Coach listed three outside hitters as inactive before the match, one being Carli Rouse who is second on the team in offense for Mobile this season. As a team, Mobile hit just .054 in the four sets played. The numbers were in the negatives following the first two sets. In 136 attack attempts, Mobile committed 29 attack errors while recording just 37 kills.
Brinkley Hearn and Rachel Hart led the team in offense on Saturday, being the only two Rams to hit above .200. Hearn, a setter turned outside hitter in just her second year with Mobile, recorded eight kills and led the team with a .250 hitting percentage. Hart also managed eight kills and turned in a .227 hitting percentage. Senior Sarah Warren and Freshman Tatum Beech shared the team lead in assists on Saturday with 14 each.
Defensively, libero Melea Meadows led the Rams with 20 digs. Sarah Warren recorded 18 and Abby Andrews notched 10 digs. However, Mobile committed 12 reception errors in the loss and errors hurt Mobile throughout the entire match.
In the four set loss to Loyola, Mobile committed a total of 55 errors across four categories in the box score; attack (29), setting (4), service (10), and reception (12). The 55 total errors led to 55 points awarded to Loyola, a team who only hit .081 in the victory. Head Coach Jon Campbell took time to speak with his team in the locker room following the tough loss about those errors. Mobile's chances at a regular season championship and no. 1 seed possibility in the conference prior to the conference championship tournament took a hit on Saturday.
The Rams are scheduled to host non-conference foe Dillard University at Pharr Gymnasium on Tuesday, Sept. 19 for the next match on the schedule. Tuesday's match is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT.
About the University of Mobile
The University of Mobile is a Christ-centered liberal arts and sciences institution with a vision of higher education for a higher purpose, founded to honor God by equipping students for their future professions through rigorous academic preparation and spiritual transformation. Core values are: Christ-Centered, Academically-Focused, Student-Devoted and Distinctively-Driven. The university offers on-campus and online bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in over 75 academic programs. Founded in 1961, the University of Mobile is affiliated with the Alabama Baptist State Convention and is located 10 miles north of Mobile, Alabama on a campus of over 880 acres.
