Box Score Looking to start strong in conference play after dropping its OAC opener, the John Carroll volleyball team answered with a four-set win over Capital on Saturday afternoon in University Heights, Ohio.

John Carroll improved to 13-7, 1-1 with its 23-25, 25-13, 25-21, 25-22 triumph while Capital fell to 12-10, 0-2.

Freshman Alexa Webber matched her season-high with 16 kills in the victory. The Anthony Wayne product hit .462 for the match and added two block. Sarah Orlandi (14) and Alex Ehrett (10) also helped to lead the offensive charge. Sara Kaminski led the defense with a match-high 25 digs.

The Blue Streaks started off strong in the first set jumping out to a 7-2 edge with Orlandi leading the way with three of her set-high six kills. The Crusaders rebounded with a 5-1 run to knot the score at 14. The two squads traded points back and forth until Ehrett's back-to-back kills opened up a three-point edge for the home unit at 21-18. The Crusaders' responded with a 3-0 swing of their own to re-tie the score at 21. Kit O'Shaughnessy responded with a kill to briefly put JCU ahead before Olivia Arledge led Capital on a 4-1 to close out the set 25-23.

Leah Switalski's two straight aces and kill coupled with three Capital errors staked John Carroll to a 7-1 edge to start the second set. Two kills each by Orlandi and Webber pushed the lead to seven as the Blue Streaks were running away with the set at 16-8. John Carroll put the pedal to the metal to close out the set with a dominating 6-0 run polishing off their swings to perfection with well-timed kills from four Blue Streak hitters. For the set the Blue Streaks heated up to .385 hitting and held the Crusaders to a -.053 mark.

"We definitely needed to come out more aggressive and sustain runs in the second set," said head coach Laura Rodeffer. "That's what lost the first set for us. We did a great job in the second set and then struggled with it in (sets) three and four. We're just a little streaky at times but I think that comes with a young team."

Webber's four kills sparked John Carroll to a five-point lead in the third set. The Crusaders regrouped with a 9-4 run to tie the set at 15 but a Jessica Kodrich kill and a Webber block tipped the momentum right back in the favor of the Blue Streaks. The Crusaders responded with a 5-1 run to pull within one but Ehrett put the set away with two kills.

John Carroll hurt itself early in the fourth set with five attack errors as unforced errors quickly become the tone for the set with the Crusaders handing two points right back to the Blue Streaks on a bad set and a ball-handling error. Maddie McDowell came off the bench to spark the Blue Streaks to a 5-0 run with a kill and teamed up with Webber for a block to pull JCU within two. Eight unforced Crusader errors down the stretch gave the lead back to the Blue Streaks. Switalski put the explanation point on the match with a block to make it match point for John Carroll before Webber closed it out by smoking home a kill.

"Our defense and our serve receive did some solid things at the end which kind of kept us in it," said Rodeffer. "We were able to get lucky on a couple points here and there and sometimes that's all you have to do."

John Carroll travels to Marietta for a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, Oct. 11.