On a night when an individual accomplishment was celebrated before the match, the John Carroll volleyball team found reason to celebrate afterwards as well.

A blistering first game, a gut check second and a focused third led to a Blue Streaks sweep of Ursuline College, 25-14, 26-24, 25-16, Tuesday night at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

Box Score

"Tonight was about the team," said senior setter Meredith McDiarmid, whose milestone achievement of breaking the school's career assists record was recognized in a brief ceremony before the start of the contest. "After the weekend we had, we just wanted to get back on the court and play the whole match ... all the way through."

JCU started out strong at the Marcia French Tournament this past weekend, but brought a mild two-game skid into Tuesday night's match with Ursuline, who was riding a modest two-game winning streak.

Momentum apparently meant nothing on this occasion. Buoyed by four consecutive aces by Sarah Slagle, the Streaks raced to a 22-7 advantage in game one before settling on an 11-point margin.

The middle game proved to be the toughest for the Streaks, who momentarily lost focus. John Carroll trailed 23-21 but rallied to win six of the final seven points.

"I am kind of like the mother of this team,' said McDiarmid, who is the lone senior on the roster. "I am running around trying to take care of everyone. We have a nice group of players, and a lot of them are young. They weren't around in past years, so they don't know about our history. They just go out and play, and right now, we have a good record."

JCU would cap off the sweep by once again bursting out to a sizeable 12-4 advantage. With Laura Sudo a perfect 4-for-4 at the net in the final set, JCU would put away the Arrows by a 25-16 count.

Kerry Fox finished with a team-high 11 kills, while McDiarmid had seven kills, 29 assists and 12 digs. Slagle had a team-high 14 digs to go with her four aces, and Charlotte Sykora had three blocks (two solo).

With the victory, the Blue Streaks move to 7-4 on the year, while Ursuline drops to 6-8.