Kalamazoo, Mich. – The Clemson Tigers (1-0) earned their first victory of the 2024 season after sweeping the Loyola Chicago Ramblers (0-1) in three straight sets (25-20, 25-16, 25-11) on Friday afternoon.
As a team, Clemson recorded a .322 hitting percentage to mark the best season-opening mark since the 2019 season (.367). Senior Azyah Dailey led the team with a .562 percentage behind nine kills off 16 attempts, and junior Mia McGrath was one of four Tigers to tally an ace finishing second on the team with three. Freshmen Neea-Maria Joki and Claire Luoma each had team highs in their collegiate debuts with 11 kills and four aces, respectively. Four Clemson players had at least three total blocks with transfer Kate Hansen capturing four (all assisted) total blocks in her debut in the Orange and Regalia, a team high.
Three aces and ten assists in the first set helped lead the Tigers to a 25-20 win over the Ramblers. Graduate transfer Indigo Young opened up the scoring for Clemson with the first point of the 2024 season. Loyola Chicago created some adversity for the Tigers by winning the next three points before Clemson fought back to tie up the set, 9-9. A kill from Dailey and an ace from Luoma turned into a four-point run for the Tigers and forced a Loyola Chicago timeout. An additional two aces from Joki and McGrath fueled a commanding 19-13 Clemson lead deep into the first set and a McGrath kill led to the end of the first set, 25-20.
Loyola Chicago started out hot in the second set after a pair of aces led to a 7-3 advantage for the Ramblers. After splitting the next two points, McGrath scored three straight points for Clemson with a kill and back-to-back service aces. A kill from Hansen forced the Ramblers to burn one of their timeouts. Coming out of the timeout, McGrath and Dailey each tallied another kill to keep the momentum in Clemson’s favor and forced another Loyola Chicago timeout. The Tigers would take advantage of three-point and eight-point scoring runs to put the set out of reach, 23-12, highlighted by four kills and a solo block from Dailey during the runs. Joki would notch a kill to close out the set for Clemson, 25-16.
Clemson refused to slow down and hit .478 throughout the third set. Luoma started off the set with three-straight service aces and put Clemson into an immediate 5-0 advantage over the Ramblers. Four kills by Joki and two courtesy of McGrath and Katherine Sandt continued to apply pressure to Loyola Chicago as the…