As one of four teams (Otterbein, John Carroll, Baldwin Wallace, Mount Union) tied for fourth place in the Ohio Athletic Conference standings, each conference game has become vital to the Blue Streaks as they push for the postseason tournament.

JCU was able to get back to their winning ways and gain some separation from the group with a four-set victory over Otterbein. 

John Carroll and Mount Union both won tonight while Baldwin Wallace and Otterbein lost, putting the Blue Streaks and Purple Raiders in a third place tie one week out from their clash in University Heights.

John Carroll and Otterbein began the first set as expected of teams with similar records, dueling evenly and matching each other point for point. JCU began to pull away once the score reached 10-10, and even pushed the score to 19-13.  However, the Cardinals would come back to tie the game 19-19. The Blue Streaks would manage to pull themselves together and run away with the first set by a score of 25-21, despite having 13 less attacks.

Seniors Madeline McDowell and Alexa Webber played a major role in the first set, having five of eight kills for John Carroll.

The second set would not go as well for the Blue Streaks. Otterbein would pull away early, building a 13-6 lead. JCU showed some fight, getting the score to 16-15 in favor of Otterbein, but the Cardinals would go on a 9-3 run and end up winning the set 25-18.

JCU would develop a strong lead from the start of the third set, getting the score to 9-2. This domination would continue to be the theme, as Otterbein willed a late comeback, but JCU would not let the score get any closer than three points. John Carroll would end up winning the third set by a score of 25-18 and behind a .208 attack percentage.

A theme of strong Blue Streak play continued into the fourth set, as John Carroll would once again build a strong 10-3 lead and not look back. The score would end up at 25-15 with JCU getting help from senior Kit O'Shaughnessy and junior Julianne McGervey, who together compiled six kills. The Blue Streaks had a strong .256 attack percentage in their final set.

Webber finished the match with nine kills, while McGervey and McDowell finished with ten apiece. O'Shaughnessy contributed 31 assists and six kills of her own. Senior Katie Cosker helped the Blue Streak cause with 29 digs.

With the victory, John Carroll improves to 14-10 (4-2 OAC) while Otterbein falls to 15-10 (3-3 OAC). This is the third straight victory for the Blue Streaks over Otterbein.

.John Carroll plays next on Saturday at 1 pm in Columbus as they travel to face Capital (5-19, 1-5 OAC)