Orlandi (left) and Kodrich (right) played a big part in the match for John Carroll.
Box Score They battled. They competed. In the end the veteran experience of the Carnegie Mellon University volleyball team was enough to push the Tartans past the John Carroll University volleyball team in a five set back-and-forth thriller on Friday evening in Cleveland.
Carnegie Mellon escaped with a 27-25, 24-29, 9-25, 26-24, 15-10 win.
Jessica Kodrich and
Kit O'Shaughnessy recorded double-doubles for the Blue Streaks. Kodrich finished with 16 kills and 10 digs while O'Shaughnessy distributed 48 assists and had 20 digs. As a team, JCU recorded 92 digs with Kaminski (33) and
Katie Cosker (16) also having more than 10.
The two teams came out and matched each other point for point in the first set which features eight lead changes and 12 ties.
Sarah Orlandi's block and back-to-back aces gave JCU the lead at 22-20 but Carnegie Mellon notched half of its kills for the set down the stretch to take the first set 27-25.
The second set was just as exciting as the first with some bonus volleyball as teams need to win by two points even if that means going past the 25 point standard set score. Down 20-16 Orlandi once again went to work with two kills and an ace to pull John Carroll within one. With the score tied at 24, kills from
Leah Switalski and Kodrich gave the set to the Blue Streaks.
John Carroll carried the momentum over to the third set crushing the Tartans. A kill by O'Shaughnessy sparked an 18-4 run to close out the set which saw JCU hit .391 for the set. The Blue Streaks kept the Tartans off balance with six players recording a kill in the set.
The point for point theme of the match returned in the fourth set with more bonus volleyball. Carnegie Mellon out-blocked John Carroll 7-4 in the set which proved the be the difference down the stretch as both defenses had an answer for every attack attempt as Kaminski finished with nine digs in the set.
Carnegie Mellon's veteran leadership took over in the fifth set with Ali Celentano, Rachel Miller and Senna Parsa combining for nine kills. However Kaminski was once again up to the task with nine digs in the set, a set played to 15 points or until a team is ahead by two should one not be once they reach 15.
John Carroll will be back in action on Saturday morning with 10 a.m. and noon matches at Baldwin Wallace.
