FINALLY FOR MOUNT ST. JOSEPH

GAELS OUTLAST LOYOLA FOR FIRST MIAA VOLLEYBALL TITLE SINCE 2006

After being among the frontrunners in the MIAA A Conference, and falling short the past five or six seasons, the Mount Saint Joseph volleyball program finally got over the hump Friday.

Mount St. Joseph rallied for a five-set victory over Loyola Blakefield inside Mount St. Joseph’s Smith Center. Outside hitter Roger Fredrickson paced MSJ’s offense with a team-high 25 kills as the Gaels (19-1 overall) won their first volleyball title since 2006.

“We knew the gloves were going to come off tonight, and we just asked our guys after Set 3 just to ‘go out and make plays, go out and do your thing’ and they were able to make enough of them to prevail,” said Mount St. Joseph first-year coach Sam Bianco.

Aidan Chairs fueled the Gaels offensively in the opening set, helping them storm out to an 8-3 lead, then a 12-6 lead that forced Loyola to call a timeout. MSJ went on to win the opening set, 25-17.

The second and third sets were essentially back-and-forth. The Dons rallied behind the defense of outside hitter Braden Altemus, who helped his team go on a 7-1 scoring run en route to the set victory.

Loyola went up two sets to one after a balanced offensive effort from the Dons in -the third set. Defensively, Altemus and Joey Benckini combined for several blocks before lefty Sean Franke recorded an ace to seal the set win, 25-22.

The Gaels were on the verge of another disheartening end to their season.

But, this time, was different.

“It just took everybody working together,” said Fredrickson, a sophomore. “Once we started to come back together, we really became a team, fought back and won.”

A 12-8 St. Joe lead ballooned to 18-11 as the Dons’ defense couldn’t seem to find an answer for MSJ’s offensive attack led by Fredrickson. Fredrickson registered a kill to give the Gaels a 25-16 win in the fourth set.

Fredrickson and Loyola Blakefield’s Felix Baier went back and forth for the first five points in the decisive final set before MSJ began to pull away, capitalizing off defensive miscues from its opponent.

Coming out of a timeout ahead 12-10, MSJ didn’t relinquish its lead and clinched the 15-11 set win thanks to a service error by the Dons. Libero Felipe Romo contributed largely to the Gaels’ win, finishing the night with 24 digs.

It was Loyola’s third loss in as many attempts against Mount St. Joseph this fall.

“I’m so proud of the way our guys represented our school in a tough situation,” Loyolg coach Tim Baier said. “That was exciting volleyball. We battled, but heck, I think the better team won but we gave everything we had so I’m not disappointed.”

Moments after the win, the Gaels’ student section stormed the floor as Romo hoisted the conference title plaque in the air.

It was a celebration, 15 years in the making.

“We’ve been so close the last four years; three of the last four years we’ve been the top seed… we were able to push through in a really great, competitive match against a great Loyola team so I’m proud of these guys,” Bianco said.

This story republished with permission of The Baltimore Banner