Most of her roster had yet to begin grade school the last time a John Carroll volleyball team had defeated a squad from Muskingum, which was why Friday night's sweep of the Muskies may have meant something different for head coach Cally Plummer than her players.

Box Score

That is not to say that both coach and players didn't equally enjoy a 25-21, 25-21, 25-21 victory Muskingum that ended a losing streak that dated back to 1995.

"It was a great team win," said Plummer. "I am happy the streak is over, but I was also happy about how we were able to close out each game. We showed some toughness tonight."

John Carroll burst out to a 12-6 lead in game one, but seemed on the verge of letting the lead slip away when Sarak Krauss put a ball away to make the margin one point at 22-21. The Blue Streaks reponded with three straight kills -- two by Kerry Fox and the last by Charlotte Sykora -- to pull out a the 25-21 win.

Game two featured 10 lead changes and 11 tie scores, the last of which was at 21-21. This time, it was the muskies who committed two errors to set up Jess Hammer's game-ending service ace.

JCU build a sizeable lead in game three at 22-15, but allowed Muskingum to climb to within 23-21 before closing out the match. Melanie Rodriguez fired off the last point with an ace to end 16 years of frustration.

Meredith McDiarmid had 31 assists in running the offense, surpassing 4,000 assists for her career. The senior setter is one of only ten players in Ohio Athletic Conference to surpass the 4,000assists mark. Sarah Slagle posted a team-high nine kills for John Carroll, which improved to 15-10 overall and 3-2 in the OAC.

McKensie Smith had a match-topping ten kills for Muskingum, which slipped to 8-15 and 2-4 in the OAC.