The John Carroll University volleyball team opened their season in front of a raucous crowd, but came up just short in their first match.

The Blue Streaks (0-1) dropped a five set match (25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 21-25, 12-15) against Case Western Reserve (1-0) in the DeCarlo Varsity Center on Tuesday night.

Coming off a 23-7 season and OAC runner-up honors, the Blue Streaks are looking to make strides under Coach Laura Rodeffer.

Leading the way for John Carroll was junior Leah Switalski with a team-leading 16 kills.  Sophomore Kayla Major chipped in a career-high 13 kills, nearly equalling her total from the 2014 season.

John Carroll took the first set 25-22 on an impressive kill from Kit O'Shaughnessy. The junior was impressive, notching 42 assists. The majority of the first set was controlled by Case until the Blue Streaks went on a late 6-0 run to tie the game at 20 and force a Case timeout. Another 3-0 run allowed John Carroll to secure the set.

Case won the second set 25-22, despite an early 8-0 run by John Carroll to tie the match 1-1.

The Blue Streaks took the third set 25-21, thanks to a convincing finish by senior Sarah Orlandi. The play marked her fourth kill of the game up to that point; she would rack up eight on the night.

The fourth set was back and forth until the Spartans took a six point lead, 23-17. Case Western finished strong with a 2-0 run after a Blue Streaks timeout to put the finishing touches on the fourth set, 25- 21. The Spartans were led by Haley Kauffman and Marian Barton, who both had numerous kills throughout the set.

After a final tight set, the Spartans pulled away to win 15-12. Kauffman and Bogart finished the evening with a combined 24 kills for Case.

Junior Katie Cosker led the way with 32 digs, one of four Blue Streaks to reach double-digits.

"I thought our ball control didn't really show up tonight," commented Coach Rodeffer after the match. "It made it hard to get into rhythm."

The Blue Streaks will travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan on Sept. 4 to take on Pacific Lutheran University and Thomas More College as part of the Calvin College Labor Day Invite.

"We want to see what we're made of," Rodeffer said of the long tournament swing in September. "We think we can hang with these teams on a national level, so we'll get a chance to test that."