Box Score In its first home match of the 2011 season, the John Carroll volleyball team fought to the end, but could not pull off the victory against Hiram College in four sets, 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 25-22, 25-19).

Coaching her first home game for the Blue Streaks, head coach Laura Jensen led her team through what turned out to be a very competitive first set. After initially trailing the set by a score of 22-17, the Blue Streaks hung tough and battled back into the set. Junior Charlotte Sykora finished off a back-and-forth volley with a kill to cut the deficit to one, 24-23. The following JCU serve, however, did not stay in bounds and the Terriers took the first game, 25-23.

In game two, JCU and Hiram again clashed in what proved to be another see-saw battle. After being tied at 20, the Blue Streaks claimed a one point lead before the Terriers took a timeout. Coming out of the break, the two teams would continue to exchange points, leading to a 23-23 deadlock.  After falling behind 24-23, freshman Sarah Kaminski made an impressive save to give the Blue & Gold extra life, but Hiram capitalized and took the second game by a duplicate score of 25-23.

The Streaks jumped out to a 6-3 lead early in the third set, giving themselves momentum. That lead grew to four, 13-9, later in the set before the Terriers went on a run. Hiram closed the gap to one, 15-14, before calling a timeout. Following the break in action, the Terriers tied the score at 15 to even the score in the third game. The Terriers took the lead, 21-19, following a 6-1 run to take the lead back from the Blue Streaks. Showing their resilience once again, JCU tied the score at 22. With their backs against the wall, the Blue Streaks reclaimed the lead, 23-22, forcing another timeout from the Terriers. Out of the timeout, senior Melanie Rodriguez made a crucial save to give JCU the 24-22 lead before the Blue Streaks took the final point, winning by a score of 25-22.

The forced fourth game proved to be similar to the first three , with both teams jockeying for position and going on momentous runs. However, the Blue Streaks found themselves trailing 22-17 late. Eventually, miscues and minor mistakes led to the Blue Streaks' demise as they lost the fourth and final game by a score off 25-19.

“I think we should feel pretty confident. We passed about as well as we have all season, so I was happy with that,” said Coach Jensen. “We have a lot of youth, so we have people playing roles they haven't played before. Anytime you have that, you're going to have some growing pains.”

The Blue Streaks will next compete in the Marcie French Memorial Tournament this weekend in Cleveland and Berea, Ohio. After a 1-4 start to the season, the Blue Streaks certainly aren't where they wanted to be, but realize that there is plenty of room for improvement.

“Serving and service receiving. That's kind of what it boils down to in volleyball with any team, so we'll focus on getting better in those two areas” said Jensen, speaking on where she would like to see improvement. “And probably team defense. Positioning and expectations as far as being back row defenders and even front row defenders is a concern. Those are areas that we will work on in practice tomorrow.”