NEW ORLEANS, La. – The William Carey Lady Crusaders took on Loyola University and Louisiana Christian during a tri-match day in The Den on Saturday, taking the two matches for a 2-0 day. WCU started the day with a Southern States Athletic Conference win over LU before ending the day with a non-conference win against the Wildcats.
 
The match started with Loyola picking up the first two points, but Carey responded quickly and over the next several points, the match tied seven times with both teams trading kills until the Lady Crusaders took the lead, 10-9. From there, Carey maintained the lead with the Wolf Pack staying within striking distance. Loyola managed to get within three with a kill from Clarissa Dupree, 23-20. However, the Lady Crusaders picked up the final two points with an attack error from the Wolf Pack and a kill from Marcella Hermont to secure set one.
 
Loyola began the second set, taking the early lead but William Carey found its footing, taking a lead of its own, 11-6. From that point, the Lady Crusaders pulled away to win the set, 25-17, taking a two-set lead. 
 
The third set started with Carey jumping out to 6-2 advantage only to see Loyola erase the deficit with a 4-0 run to tie the set. Like the first set, WCU maintained the lead with the Wolf Pack keeping it close but with WCU leading 13-10, the Lady Crusaders seized control behind a 6-1 run and never looked back, taking the set 25-15 for the sweep.
 
In their final match of the day against LCU, both teams went back and forth to start the match with Carey maintaining the early lead. With WCU leading 6-5, it appeared that the Lady Crusaders were taking control of the match behind a 7-1 run, but the Wildcats battled their way back to get within three, 14-11. However, WCU shut down any hope of a comeback, as they responded with a 5-0 run to pull away for good, taking the set 25-16.
 
The Lady Crusaders left little doubt in the second set, racing out to 14-5 advantage, and never looked back going on to take the set 25-13. The Wildcats would not go quietly, as they came out quickly in the third set, taking the early lead, 9-5. From there LCU maintained the lead with Carey battling to stay within striking distance. 
 
With the Wildcats holding a 21-18 lead, WCU took full advantage of three straight attack errors from the LCU offense and a kill by Suelen Lima to retake the lead, 22-21. Both teams went on to trade shots and with score tied at twenty-six all, a kill by Sofia Bettini gave Carey the lead once again with an attack error sealing the victory for the Lady Crusaders.
 
WCU is back in action Friday, October 4, as they travel to Mount Vernon, Ga. to take on Brewton-Parker College in SSAC action. Play is set to begin at 5:00 pm.