DAVIDSON, N.C. – Loyola Chicago used a dominating final two sets to make a return trip to the Atlantic 10 Championship Final, beating third-seeded VCU 3-1 (26-24, 14-25, 25-18, 25-16) Saturday in the A-10 semifinals at Belk Arena.
 
The second-seeded Ramblers (18-11) will face No. 1 Dayton in a rematch of last year’s final, which Loyola Chicago won. The title match, which grants the winner the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, begins at noon and will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
The third and fourth sets were controlled by Loyola Chicago, who were led by Addie Barnes’ 17 kills, followed by 14 kills from Emily Banitt and 11 from Karlie McNabb. McNabb led the Ramblers in hitting at .300, and she was one of five players with double-digit digs. Barnes had 20 to pace LUC, and all three kills leaders had kill-digs double-doubles. Anna Feldkamp had a match-high five blocks.
 
While sets two and three were lopsided affairs each way, the opening frame was tightly contested. The Ramblers looked like they might run away with it early, scoring six of the first seven points. On kills from Banitt, Taylor Venuto and Barnes. But VCU bided its time and went on a run of its own, scoring seven of eight points to tie it at 19 on a Kialah Jefferson kill, and then take the lead on a block from Kylie Loftis and Parker Hartzell. Down 24-22 and facing set point, Loyola ripped off four straight points, three on kills from Banitt, Bree Borum and Feldkamp, to win the set.
 
VCU evened the match with a dominating second set, using a nine-point run in 10 plays to take a commanding lead. Loyola was unable to recover and VCU capped the set with four straight points with three kills from Jasmine Knight and MaKenzie Chambers.
 
Jefferson had 11 kills to pace VCU, along with 12 digs for a double-double. Anja Kujundzic recorded a match-high 23 digs and Loftis had four blocks.