PALO ALTO, Calif. – Loyola Marymount University women's volleyball will continue playing this season after sweeping Duke, 25-16, 25-22, 25-16, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.
 
"I was very proud of our team's preparation throughout the week," said Head Coach Aaron Mansfield. "We knew that we were going to have a tough opponent in Duke who have really good size in the middle and some explosive outside hitters, and I was really proud of how our group started. To start the match, there is a lot of anxiousness and excitement, and we seemed to dial into the scouting report right away. We made it pretty tough on them from the start"
 
After the first set opened with a tight 10-9 score, the Lions pulled away with 15 of the final 22 points to take the opener. Sara Kovac totaled at least seven kills in each of the three sets, with a high of eight coming in set two.
 
The second set was a bit tighter throughout with the score tied at 22-all. The Lions closed with out with a Ella Boehle service ace to give LMU set point, and a block by Kovac and Emma Johnson to push LMU to the 2-0 cushion.
 
The Lions never trailed in the third set and pushed their lead to as high as nine on multiple occasions, both at 19-10 and to secure the match at 25-16. Kekai Whitford led the way with seven of her 15 digs and three Lions, Meredith Teague, Whitford, and Boehle, recorded service aces in the set.
 
"Sara has been on fire," said Mansfield. "The last five or six matches she has played she has been the best player on the court. Our passers were really locked in and we will need that tomorrow to have a shot."
 
Kovac's 22 kills against the Blue Devils was her seventh 20+ kill performance of the season, and tied her 22 kills from Tuesday's win over BYU for the most by a Lion in three sets this season. Her game-high doubled up the 11 kills by Duke's leading attacker, Ade Owokoniran.
 
Tess Reid recorded her 13^thdouble-double of the season, finishing with 35 assists and 11 digs in the win.
 
LMU will now play the winner of the regional's second game of Friday's doubleheader. The Lions will either face top-seeded Stanford or Alabama State Saturday at 6 p.m.