John Carroll was looking for a signature win to jump start its 2015 season. Through 13 games this year, the Blue Streaks -- who had won 23 games last year -- were standing at an unexpected record of 4-9.

Proving it takes just a little spark to start a fire, John Carroll found that spark Friday night in Pittsburgh.

After surviving a five-set win to open the Carnegie Mellon DoubleTree Invitational over Westminster (25-12, 22-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-6), the Blue Streaks faced the host squad in the final match of the evening. The Tartans boasted a 16-1 record and a #20 ranking in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 national poll.

The Blue Streaks lost the first set 25-21, but came back to win the second (25-20) and third (25-19) to take a 2-1 lead. The Blue Streaks had a late lead in the fourth but could not finish off the match as the Tartans rallied for a 25-23 win to force a fifth game.

Carnegie Mellon held an 11-9 lead in the final frame, but showing nerves of steel, the Blue Streaks pulled it out by winning six of the final seven points, including two of the last three with blocks against the vaunted CMU attack, to complete the upset. Alex Ehrett and Alexa Webber each had 13 kills against the Tartans while Kit O'Shaughnessy tallied 48 assists and 20 digs.

Buoyed by their performance Friday, the Blue Streaks were undaunted Saturday. They began the afternoon by sweeping Brooklyn College and then knocked out Pomona-Pitzer in four games to finish the weekend with an undefeated 4-0 record. That helped raise their overall mark to 8-9 on the season.

For the weekend, Sarah Orlandi had 42 kills against just ten errors for a sparkling .395 attack percentage. She also recorded 20 blocks. O'Shaughnessy directed the offense to the tune of 134 assists, and was one of three players with over 50 digs in the combined four matches. Sara Kaminski led the way with 74 digs, followed by O'Shaughnessy with 63 and Katie Cosker with 51.

The digs total for Kaminski was especially significant, as she became the program's all-time leader over the weekend. She now stands with 1,869 digs in her career, surpassing the mark of 1,855 set by Beth Grzybowski from 1999-2002.