DAYTON, Ohio – No. 2 Loyola Chicago won a hard-fought second set and used the momentum to top third-seeded VCU, 3-1 (18-25, 26-24, 25-21, 25-17) in the Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship semifinals in Frericks Center.

The Ramblers (20-11) advance to the A-10 Championship final to face top-seeded Dayton at noon Sunday. It marks the third straight year to teams have squared off for the A-10 crown. Loyola has played in the volleyball title match every year they’ve been in the league.

A Lara Del Core kill and a Jasmine Knight block seemed to put VCU in a position to win with a 24-23 lead in the contested second set. But the Ramblers’ responded with a Esma Ajanovic kill that tied the game at 24. A VCU attack error, followed by an Ann Marie Remmes kill gave the Ramblers the win.

Remmes led all hitters with 14 kills while Ajanovic’s 13 kills came off a match-high .423 hitting percentage. A-10 Setter of the Year Bree Borum turned in 42 assists and 16 digs for a double-double.

Sets three and four followed the same script, with VCU taking an early lead, only to have LUC rally and tie each game before finishing strong to close out the match.

The Rams (18-9) won the first set with a dominant performance, opening on a 11-4 run through a balanced attack with Julia Rienks contributing a kill and two block assists. Rienks has 12 kills and hit .381, joining Lara Del Core as the two VCU players with double-digit kills. Del Core tallied a team-high 13. Letizia Galli had a match-high 11 blocks.

VCU’s Anja Kujundzic (22) and Sam Falk (20) of Loyola each had a 20-dig match.