Loyola volleyball defeats Oak Park in taut four set match in State semifinals - National championship on line Saturday
On Wednesday night at Leavey Gymnasium, Loyola played Oak Park in the CIF State Southern California Regional volleyball semifinals in an exceptionally intense match filled with fiery temperament on both sides of the net.  It was the second meeting between the two teams, the first encounter having ended in a Cub loss to the Eagles in the semifinal round of the Best of the West Tournament.  This time around, Loyola got the better of Oak Park, but the victory did not come easily.  The first three matches came down to the wire before the Eagles were overcome by the pressure of the moment and solid play by the Cubs in the deciding fourth and final set won by Loyola 25-20.  The final set scores were 25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20.

It is not often that a prep team can compete for a national championship, but that is likely to be the case for the Cubs on Saturday at Edison High School in Huntington Beach when Loyola takes on the winner of tonight's semifinal match between Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar.  CdM is expected to win, and if it does, the nationally number one-ranked Sea Kings and number two-ranked Cubs would be fighting it out in a proverbial rubber match in which the stakes could not be any higher.  Loyola defeated the Sea Kings at Leavey in its final non-league match which went the distance, and CdM turned the tables with a three set sweep of the Cubs in last Saturday's CIF Southern Section Division I championship match at Cerritos College.

The championship match gets underway at 5:30 p.m. Edison High school is located at 21400 Magnolia Street, Huntington Beach, California 92648.

Loyola lacrosse ranked fourth in West in Under Armour poll
Loyola's US Lacrosse Southern Section champion lacrosse team is ranked fourth in the Western United States in the latest Under Armour prep lacrosse poll.