After nearly two hours of intense play, the John Carroll Blue Streaks and the Ohio Northern Polar Bears were headed into a decisive game five at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

A decisive game five was all that stood between the Blue Streaks and their first win over Ohio Northern in over a decade.

Despite a spirited effort, John Carroll fell short by four points as Ohio Northern outlasted the home team in a five-set thriller, 15-25, 25-23, 27-25, 17-25, 15-11.

Playing their second OAC match of the year, the Blue Streaks looked to defeat the Ohio Northern Polar Bears for the first time since 2001.
 
This was the first match between these two schools that went to five sets since 1996.

Freshman Mena Afsariford started set one with a five-point service run to give John Carroll an early 5-0 lead.  Aggressive plays at the net kept Ohio Northern in the set, but the Blue Streak offense, led by six kills from Sarah Orlandi, prevailed and took the set.

Ohio Northern came back stronger in set two.  The two teams battled for the lead through the entire set, with the Polar Bears only leading by a high of five points one time.  A three-point service run by Katie Cosker and a key kill by Leah Switalski was able to able to pull JCU to within a single point at 22-21.  But two kills down the stertch by Kaitlann Hogrefe gave the set to Ohio Northern.

Set three was the game changer for both teams.  A seven-point service run by Jessica Kodrich gave the Blue Streaks a 16-8 lead.  JCU still led 17-9 when Polar Bears setter Ashley Borchers ignited her own seven-point run to tie the set at 17-17. 

Despite the Ohio Northern run, John Carroll had a chance to close out the game at 24-22, but the Polar Bears survived, then used an Ellie Gillespie ace to win in bonus time, 27-25.

The roller coaster ride of a match continued in set four, where the Blue Streaks trailed briefly (2-1) before rolling to a win to force a fifth set. Orlandi and Alexa Webber combined for 11 kills, while Sara Kaminski led the defense with nine digs. 
           
With the win in sight for both teams, it would be critical to jump out early. That was what Ohio Northern did, scoring five of the first seen points.

The Polar Bears never relinquished the lead, although kills by Webber, Orlandi and Leah Switalski tied the set at 8-8.

As the match entered crunch time, Ohio Northern still led 11-10 when a JCU error followed by two Gillespie errors put the Polar Bears at match point. John Carroll staved off one point on a kill by Switalski to make the score 14-11, but Gillespie ended it with a kill down the left side.

Ohio Northern improved to 13-6 overall and 1-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play with the win. Claire Heitkamp paced the offense with 12 kills, while Borchers collected 44 assists. Gillespie and Kristin Sessler tallied 23 and 20 digs, respectively.
           
Orlandi ended the day with a career-high 20 kills, while Webber had 17.  Sarah Kaminski led the defense with 38 digs and Kit O'Shaughnessy – who had a match-high 54 assists -- followed with 23.

The loss dropped John Carroll's record to 14-3 overall and 1-1 in league play. It was also the Blue Streaks' first home loss of 2014.
           
John Carroll will be back in action on Tuesday in Westerville, Ohio, as they take on the Otterbein Cardinals. The match is set to start at 7 p.m.