To address the "elephant in the room," it has been a long time since John Carroll has been in the position to host a postseason match, most of the current Blue Streaks were in grade school, maybe a few even in kindergarten, when John Carroll last served as a host team in an Ohio Athletic Conference tournament.
13 years to be exact.
The 2001 Blue Streaks hosted as the #4 seed, and knocked off #5 seed Mount Union in four sets (30-26, 30-28, 21-30, 30-27) before falling in three sets in the semifinals at eventual champion Ohio Northern.Â
That victory also marked John Carroll's last victory in postseason play. The Blue Streaks have gone 0-8 since.
All that history can change on Tuesday night, when John Carroll (21-6, 7-2 OAC) -- as the #2 seed -- hosts #7 seed and crosstown rival Baldwin Wallace (15-14, 3-6 OAC) at the DeCarlo Varsity Center beginning at 7:00 p.m.
The Blue Streaks are a #2 seed for the first time since 1994. Tuesday night's match will be covered with live video and live stats.The Blue Streaks swept Baldwin Wallace in the regular season meeting, also held at the DeCarlo Center, back on October 21. The Yellow Jackets lead the all-time series, 35-21, but JCU has won three of the last four meetings. Baldwin Wallace has won the only two OAC postseason match-ups between the two Cleveland rivals, in 2000 (3-1) and 2005 (3-0).
If John Carroll prevails in this quarterfinal round match, it would host the winner of the #6 Capital vs #3 Otterbein match on Thursday, November 6 at 7:00 p.m.
The Blue Streaks are led by an attack featuring three of the top five hitters in the league --
Leah Switalski (3.16 kills per set, 3rd in OAC),
Sarah Orlandi (2.90, 4th) and
Alexa Webber (2.86, 5th). Orlandi is also third in the conference with a .314 hitting percentage.
Kit O'Shaughnessy is second in the OAC with 10.00 sets per game, while Sara Kamisnki is fourth in digs per set at a 5.65 clip.
John Carroll is 8-15 all-time in OAC Tournament play, winning the title in 1993 and finishing as runner-up 1994 and 1995.Â
