Outside hitter Thomas Jaeschke and Loyola finished a dream season Saturday in thrilling fashion.
Jaeschke, the national player of the year, recorded 20 kills and third-seeded Loyola defeated top-seeded Lewis 21-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-27, 23-21 in a roller-coaster NCAA Tournament championship match at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.
Jeff Jendryk had 17 kills and Cody Caldwell had 10 for Loyola (28-2), which became just the fourth team in the country to record back-to-back NCAA title in men’s volleyball. Peter Hutz added 58 assists and a team-high 14 digs for the Ramblers.
Lewis (27-4) was paced by a match-high 23 kills from Greg Petty. First team All-American Geoff Powell added 20 kills, while Scott Fifer dished 52 assists and libero Lucas Yanez had 15 digs.
Jaeschke became the first player since 2010 to win player of the year and a national title in the same season.
Lewis topped Loyola twice during the season but fell to the Ramblers in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association finals last week.
Loyola needed eight match points in Game 5 to put away the Flyers. Lewis had two match points in the rousing final set.
Malloy is a freelancer reporter for the Daily Southtown.