Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4 John Carroll won three of its four matches at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational, including a thriller over Elmira, to end the week on a three-game winning streak heading into conference play.

"I was extremely happy with our consistantcy on Saturday ... we made a lot of good decisions and it showed," commented Coach Laura Jensen about the weekend.

Johns Hopkins was the lone team to knock off JCU, and did so in the opening match Friday. The undefeated Blue Jays went on to go 4-0 and capture the tournament title. Freshman Sara Kaminski completed the match with 12 digs and senior Sarah Slagle had six kills.

The Blue Streaks bounced back Friday with a sweep of Scranton.  A team with an impressive 9-3 record, Scranton kept JCU on its toes the first game, but the Blue Streaks were able to pull through with a 25-23 decision, and then rolled from there. Ellie Rafoth led the team with eighteen assists, while Charlotte Sykora had three blocks and two blocking assists.   

If JCU is able to turn its season in a positive direction from here on out, the team may point to a dramatic five set victory over Elmira as the catalyst. Trailing two sets to zero, John Carroll rallied for the victory, stamping it with an emphatic 15-4 win in the deciding frame.  Key contributors to the Blue Streaks' win were Slagle, the team's leader in kills (21), and Teresa Noewer, who had JCU's season-high of five aces.

"We are trying to find a consistent preparation so we are ready to play when the first whistle blows," said Jensen. "We didn't really do anything different in the match ... we simply executed better as things progressed."

JCU won by a landslide in its final match against winless Pitt-Greensburg to conclude play with a 3-1 record.  Although Pitt-Greensberg did not have any wins, the Blue Streaks still brought their "A" game and won by at least five points in each game.  Slagle led the Blue Streaks with nine kills.  Other noteable players were sophomore Jessica Kodrich, who had fifteen assists, and Kaminski, who ended the match with ten digs.      

Its three-match win streak has John Carroll armed with a 6-9 record heading into its first Ohio Athletic Conference match Wednesday against Marietta.