It has been a long time since John Carroll has had to deal with the late season pressure of contending for a league title. In fact, the Blue Streaks have not been in contention this late in a year since 1996.

Based on the results of tonight, JCU has been gaining some much-needed knowlegde and experience. Outside of a comfortable win in game two, John Carroll survived some adversity to sweep crosstown rival Baldwin Wallace, 26-24 25-17 and 25-22.

The win moves John Carroll to 19-5 on the season overall and 5-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The 19 wins matches last year's victory total, and keeps the Blue Streaks in a first-place tie in the league standings with Mount Union and Otterbein (all at 5-1). heidelberg is a half-game back at 5-2. No other team is above .500 (see OAC standings)

Baldwin Wallace falls to 15-11 and 3-3 in league play.

John Carroll held a 24-20 lead in the opening frame, but a pair of Yellow Jacket kills combined with two JCU errors knotted the score at 24-24. But Sarah Orlandi won the penultimate point with a blast to the corner, and then an error by the vistors ended game one in favor of the Blue Streaks.

The home team turned up the heat in game two, crusing to an eight-point win. John Carroll trailed early, 7-3, but went on a 22-10 tear to close out the frame. Alexa Webber had five kills to lead the Blue Streaks.

The final set also seemed headed for a quick ending as the Blue Streaks opened up a 20-13 lead. But Baldwin Wallace did not go quietly, but strong serving runs by Paige Pileski and Ellen Hawkins keyed a 9-2 run that evened up the frame at 22-22.

Orlandi came to the rescue late, providing two kills over the final three points to close out the match.

JCU, which hit .167 as a team for the match, was paced by 12 kills from Orlandi while Webber had nine and Leah Switalski contributed six.. Kit O'Shaughnessy had 30 assists and Sara Kaminski chipped in with a team-best 17 digs.

The big advantage John Carroll enjoyed was in the service game. The Blue Streaks amassed 12 service aces compared to four by the opposition, as Orlandi and Katie Cosker each had three.