After a stumble at home early in the week, the Loyola Marymount University women’s volleyball team recovered with a successful Bay Area trip that included straight-sets wins over Santa Clara and San Francisco.
On Sept 29, the Lions played a well-rounded match on Saturday en route to sweeping San Francisco, 26-24, 25-16, 25-17 at USF's War Memorial Gym. Junior Bo Culo from Croatia posted 12 kills, eight digs and six aces, while Kekai Whitford (17 digs), Savannah Slattery (14 kills) and Tess Reid (42 assists) also performed well.
"Our offense was effective today,” said coach Aaron Mansfield. “Most importantly, our level of focus and effort was where it needed to be to get a win playing to our standard.”
Two nights earlier, LMU (13-3 overall, 3-2 in the West Coast Conference) downed Santa Clara, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22. Whitford had 24 digs and Slattery 11 kills to lead the way against the Broncos, who were led by freshman Michelle Shaffer (former La Reina HS star) with seven kills.
As reported earlier, the Lions dropped their initial WCC home match Sept. 25 to San Diego, three sets to one. This week, LMU returns home to host Saint Mary's (Oct. 4, 7 p.m.) and Pacific (Oct. 6, 1 p.m.) at Gersten Pavilion.
Men’s water polo
A 2-1 week brought LMU up to 4-6 on the year, after wins over Air Force (15-8) and Fresno Pacific (10-2) sandwiched a loss to UC San Diego (22-12). Joseph Shaw scored three goals in the Fresno Pacific win, while Alexandros Athymaritis scored three times in a four-minute span of the Air Force match and four altogether, and Blazo Mitrovic added three.
Men’s basketball
The 2018-19 Loyola Marymount men's basketball schedule features 14 non-conference games prior to the start of WCC play in January.
The Lions will open at home on Nov. 6 against Westcliff University from Irvine, followed by their first road test at UNLV Nov. 10, and back home Nov. 13 against Cal State Northridge. On Dec. 2, the Lions and UCLA Bruins square off at Pauley Pavilion, their first meeting since Nov. 11, 2011, when Anthony Ireland led the Lions to an opening-day win, 69-58, in front of 5,382 fans at the LA Sports Arena.
Mike Nelson is the former editor of the Tidings (predecessor of Angelus News).
Start your day with Always Forward, our award-winning e-newsletter. Get this smart, handpicked selection of the day’s top news, analysis and opinion, delivered to your inbox. Sign up absolutely free today!
