LEXINGTON, Ky. – Loyola-Chicago travelled to Lexington, Kentucky to play the University of Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, where the Wildcats swept the Ramblers (25-17, 25-14, 25-20) on a night where Emma Grome dished out 44 assists and lead Kentucky to hit .389 on the match.
This was the second time Kentucky and Loyola-Chicago had ever matched up. The previous match was back in 2017, when the Wildcats also swept the Ramblers. Tonight, Kentucky outhit the Ramblers .389 to .159, recorded four more blocks and aces, as well as 20 more assists than Loyola-Chicago.
Kentucky setter Emma Grome not only dished out 44 assists, but also recorded five digs and three blocks of her own. Grome was named SEC Player of the Year for the 2022 regular season earlier this week. Outside hitter Adanna Rollins also contributed to the .389 hitting with 15 kills.
Loyola-Chicago was led by outside hitter Karlie McNabb, who was awarded A-10 Player of the Year earlier this season. Tonight, she recorded 13 kills, hitting .300, along with six digs. The Ramblers saw multiple players with multiple digs in their attempt to stop the UK offense.
Loyola-Chicago ended its season with a 25-9 overall record and an A-10 Conference Championship. This was the Ramblers sixth NCAA tournament appearance in school history.
Kentucky will play Western Kentucky University in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at 7 p.m. EST in Memorial Coliseum. The match will be available on ESPN+.
Set One
The battle started early for the two conference champions, with the game going back and forth. The Loyola-Chicago Ramblers showed great defense, with 10 recorded digs throughout the set. Kentucky led 5-3 when Grome served an ace to extend the Wildcats lead to three. The strong Ramblers defense continued, led by outside hitters Addie Barnes and McNabb. With the 11-7 lead, Kentucky was hitting .400 compared to the Ramblers .200. McNabb recorded six kills in the first set, keeping Loyola-Chicago in the game. The Wildcats led 15-10 midway through the set and continued to run their offense through Rollins, who tallied seven kills of her own. Kentucky extended its lead to 18-10 with a Rollins ace, one of the teams four in set one. Loyola-Chicago attempted a comeback bringing the score within six at 21-15, which brought one of the longest rallies of the match. However, the Wildcats ended set one with Rollins yet again, ending in a score of 25- 17.
Set Two
Kentucky won set two with a score of 25-14. Rollins continued to be the Wildcats best option early, as she earned Kentucky’s first two points of the set. The Loyola-Chicago defense continued to work hard, as five players recorded three digs or more. With a Kentucky lead of 6-3, both teams rallied yet again with scrappy defensive plays on both sides of the net. The Wildcats won the point and continued to roll with a spread offense ran by Grome. Following a timeout at the score of 13-5, Kentucky recorded their notable fifth block of the set. The Wildcats led 19-5, but McNabb found the way to find the floor for her eighth kill. The Ramblers went on a four-point run to bring the score to 19-9. McNabb delivered yet another kill and Taylor Venuto recorded a block to keep Loyola-Chicago in it. However, Kentucky continued to run the rest of the set and hit .400 compared to the Ramblers .107. With a score of 24- 14, a Reagan Rutherford kill ended the set in favor of the Wildcats.
Set Three
The Wildcats started off taking a 2-0 lead. Loyola-Chicago’s Emily Banitt and Kelsey Watson combined to block the ball, leading to a tied game at 3-3. The Ramblers defensive efforts were evident yet again in set three, as they did all they could to maintain the Wildcat offense. At the score of 9-7, Ramblers Kelsey Watson killed the ball for her first kill of the match. Kentucky had a few unforced serving errors in set three, which gave Loyola-Chicago opportunities to gain momentum periodically. Grome tallied her third block of the night at 14-9, giving the Wildcats a boost. Kentucky led 16-11, but the Ramblers Emily Banitt also delivered her third big block of the evening. McNabb recorded kill number 11 of the night to bring the Ramblers within three of Kentucky at a score of 19-16. However, Grome continued to use her offensive tools in Rollins, Rutherford, and Tealer, which boosted the Wildcats to take the 21-16 lead. With libero Grace Hinchman behind the service line, Loyola-Chicago brought the score back within three. Bree Borum saw her first block of the match as at 23-18, but the Wildcats went on to win the next point, bringing them to match point. The third set ended with another Rollins kill bringing the set final to a score of 25-20.
Kentucky Head Coach Craig Skinner
Opening Statement…
“First of all, thank y’all for being here. I appreciate it. Loyola (Chicago) is a very good team. They proved that all year long, winning 25 matches on the year and 17 in their league, so for us to hold them at 200 or under in three sets is a pretty significant defensive performance. These two [Emma Grome and Bella Bell] did a great job and we had a lot of balance offensively tonight: eight kills, nine kills, eight kills, eleven kills, fifteen kills for our five starters. We did a good job keeping them off balance. I think Adonna [Rollins] got us going and then people stepped up as the match got going, so I’m proud of how our team played in the first round. “
On offensive balance …
“I was impressed today with that because when I was watching video with Emma [Grome] before the match, I didn’t want to give her specific places to go early. Sometimes, we have a gameplan where we go outside first then come back to the middle, or we might go to the middle then the outside. I felt like Loyola was going to scheme and get a head start on some things, so I wanted to feel that out and I think Emma did good job of getting the ball to the right people at the right times. The balance got better as the match went on. Adanna [Rollins] was hot early, obviously Bella [Bell]. Then, you saw the balance as Z [Azhani Tealer] got hot, Lambo [Erin Lamb] got hot. It’s definitely an important piece in the tournament. “
On facing in-state rival WKU in the second round…
“They’re good. Whether it’s Western Kentucky across their chest, or somebody else, they’re really good. It’s exciting for our state. If you look at the quality of volleyball across our state, it’s unbelievable. You can look at Western, us, Louisville. Then, you see all the kids growing up playing here, that’ll be cool for them to see a match like this. Western runs a very unique system, and you have to be ready for it. They’ll play hard, just like Loyola, so it’ll be fun.”
Kentucky’s Bella Bell, MB
On if them not losing a set since playing Florida serves as motivation, a wakeup call or both …
“I think we just realized how good, well not realized but enjoyed how it felt to win, to sweep a team especially as good Florida and we just wanted to keep going like that. So we’ve been going at it at practice, preparing for our next opponent so we can keep feeling like that.”
On what the 24-hours will look like…
“I agree with Emma. Definitely, recovery because my legs are feeling it so on top of everything Emma said – recovery.”
Kentucky’s Emma Grome, S
On if them not losing a set since playing Florida serves as motivation, a wakeup call or both …
“Maybe a little of both. I mean nobody likes to get swept on the road especially against an opponent like Florida, so I think that definitely kicked us in gear a little bit. We’ve been working really hard in the gym, staying focused and intentional so– it’s been good.”
On how she found out she won the SEC player of the year and what went through her mind …
“I heard about it from Twitter and Instagram, but I was really honored and like you said I think it shows a lot about our team. We have so many good hitters on this team and as I was able to do today, we keep it really balanced. I think just having so many different options makes it really fun for me because I can have a little bit more freedom to be deceptive and I have a lot of confidence in my hitters, so they definitely help.”
On what the 24-hours will look like…
“Eat, sleep, watch some film and rest for tomorrow. We’re going to come into practice very focused and ready to scout Western Kentucky. I think just coming in with the right mindset and getting after it will be important.”
Loyola-Chicago Head Coach Amanda Berkley
Opening statement …
“Kentucky was a very good team – really proud of our team though for fighting through in that third set and making it competitive. But, yeah, it was just a tough match for us. They’re a physical team, and it was a tough match for us but really proud of the way this team played and fought throughout the whole season.”
On how this match is different from all the other matches they’ve played against within the Power 5 competition …
“I think it just was definitely a more physical team, and they don’t make a lot of mistakes. They definitely were a very good serving and passing team, and so it was definitely a lot tougher to match. We usually have a good serving team, and they were able to pass pretty well against our serves.”
On how experience from playing Tennessee and Michigan translated to tonight’s game…
“They were a physical team. We just knew what type of swings we were going to have to do to score, and I thought Karlie [McNabb] had a great match – swinging high off the hands. We told her to be annoying, and I think she was annoying. I thought she did a great job of swinging and getting kills.”
Loyola-Chicago’s Karlie McNabb, OH
On how this match is different from all the other matches they’ve played against within the Power 5 competition …
“This is by far one of the most physical teams we have ever seen. I’m proud of how we competed, and I think we proved a point that they might be a lot bigger than us, but we’re still going to fight and be gritty. They are a very good team and very talented.”
On how experience from playing Tennessee and Michigan translated to tonight’s game…
“They don’t have many missing pieces in their offense in any rotation. They have people who can score out of any position which is a really cool and exciting thing to play a team like that because we can learn a lot from it. At the end of the day that’s all we can do from this match is learn that we’re ready to come back again next year and get the first round.”
On what it has meant for her to get to this point …
“We talked about in the locker room that our phrase this season was ‘Win for Kim’ and no matter what the outcome of that game was, we did that this entire year. I’m really proud to be a part of a team who supported me through a really hard time and that’s all I can ask for. I will forever be thankful for every single person that is at Loyola.”
Loyola-Chicago’s Bree Borum, S
On how this match is different from all the other matches they’ve played against within the Power 5 competition …
“I think they were a very great team, but like KJ said, we were gritty, we made plays, and we hustled. At the end of the day, that’s all you can ask for. We come to practice every day to work hard and give it all we have, and I really think we did that today.”
On how experience from playing Tennessee and Michigan translated to tonight’s game…
“Playing teams like Tennessee, Michigan, and Northwestern they just showed us how good and how big those girls are and although we might not have the height or the physicality, we go out, we swing high, and we do different things which is why we were very successful in a lot of those games.”
