box score

Encouraged by a raucous crowd and hoping to snap a long losing streak to its opponent, the John Carroll volleyball team played an inspired match this evening but came up three points shy in a five-game loss to archrival Mount Union College in an Ohio Athletic Conference match-up Tuesday night.

JCU rallied from a first game loss to take a 2-1 lead, but ultimately fell by a 30-18, 26-30, 22-30, 30-25, 15-12 score.

Meagan Gambone had 20 kills and Laura Isbell contributed 12 for the Blue Streaks, while Meredith McDiarmid had 49 assists. JCU tallied nine service aces as Colleen Cavanagh with four and McDiarmid with three led the effort.

Mount Union, which improved to 18-4 and 2-1 in the OAC, was paced by 22 kills apiece from Sarah Parker and Amanda Kohler. Melissa Mahnke added 19 kills as the Purple Raiders had a .275 hitting percentage for the match and posted 11 team blocks.

Game one started out as a back-and-forth affair, but Mount Union's Alexi Sawayda got on a roll and turned a 16-16 tie into a 28-17 Mount Union lead with 12 straight points on her serve. The Purple Raiders won by a 30-18 count.

JCU trailed 18-16 in game two, but Cavanagh served up two aces and Kate Schafer had two kills late to rally for a 30-26 win.

In game three, the Blue Streaks built their largest lead of the match (nine points) at 19-10 only to have Mount Union rally to pull withinfour points at 22-18. John Carroll closed out the game by winning eight of the last 12 points -- fueled by three Gambone kills -- for a 30-22 triumph.

The Blue Streaks had chances to close out the match in four games, but Mount Union had other ideas. With the score tied 20-20, the Purple Raiders would win 10 of the final 15 points, capped by two game-ending kills by Parker.

Game five saw JCU jump out to an 8-6 lead, but Kohler came through with four big kills to help the Purple Raiders ice the match and claim their eighth consecutive victory over the Blue Streaks dating back to 2001.