After a rough go Friday night, a new day provided new opportunities for the JCU volleyball team

They took advantage, posting wins over Oberlin in five sets and Adrian in four.

The Blue Streaks had a rocky start Saturday in matches played at Oberlin College. In the opener against the host Yeowomen,. With a back and forth first set, Oberlin did not have a significant lead until the remaining five points when they pulled away and closed out the set 25-21.

The close loss in set one carried a hangover as the Blue Streaks fell to down early 6-0. The team just could not find their rhythm out of the gates allowing the lead to grow to as large as 18-7. In a crowd of familiar faces, the Blue Streaks turned to Jenna Dvorsky as she recorded four digs. A Rachel Bleile ace gave the team hope as it pulled them within reach but could not clinch the final points, but the Yeowomen took set two, 25-17.

Another back and forth set ensued  as John Carroll put the pressure on Oberlin forcing two timeouts and eventually taking the lead 14-12. They held tough trading points with the Yeowommen. John Carroll was then forced to take a timeout when Oberlin took the lead 20-19.

Showing resolve, John Carroll hung on to win the third game, 26-24.

That win changed everything. As the fourth set began, John Carroll took the lead, 12-9. The Blue Streaks started to take hold and grew their commanding lead until they took set four, 25-19.

The Blue Streaks took advantage of their opponents errors in the beginning of set five to take a quick 5-0 lead. Back to back kills by Cassi Calamunci propelled the Blue streaks from that juncture forward, and JCU cruised to a 15-3 victory in the deciding set.

Cassi Calamunci tied her career high with 21 kills on the game. Brooke Hjerpe followed her lead with her own career high of 19 kills. Sarah Calabrese (7), Emma Abfall (6) and Audrey Hardig (5) also contributed to the high powered Blue Streak offense. Caitlin Cianciolo had 24 digs along with Ally Bartolone contributing 30 assists.

It was John Carroll's first come-from-behind win from two sets down to win a match since October 11, 2016 (vs. Baldwin Wallace)

Momentum brought from the win over Oberlin College earlier in the afternoon transferred to the second match against Adrian, starting with an Bartolone service ace. The Blue Streaks put on the pressure forcing an Adrian College timeout. The Blue and Gold came out to a fast 10-5 lead. Adrian snuck back in the set and shortened the lead to three but John Carroll kept their foot on the gas pedal and opened up the match with a set one win, 25-20.

In set two however, the script flipped. The Bulldogs pushed back and took the lead, 11-5. They did not look back as their offense was on point dominating the second set 25-12.

John Carroll shook it off and did not let this bruise their confidence. The Blue Streaks pulled away early in the third set to keep a nice cushion of about two points throughout the set. They found a way to minimize the runs of Adrian and capitalize off their errors. Coming off of a loss in set two the Blue Streaks bounced back and took set number three at 25-22.

In the deciding set of the day the Blue and Gold found their mojo, determined the finish the day with two wins. After the ninth point in the fourth set the Blue Streaks did not trail again. The Blue Streaks offense fueled the charge and the defense did not allow the Bulldogs to get comfortable. A Calabrese kill from Bartolone sealed the match, 25-21. J

Double digit kills for three Blue Streaks helped bring home the final win of the day. Calabrese (17), Calamunci (14) and Hjerpe (11) made the impact at the net. With an experienced back line the Bulldogs could not get past the Blue Streaks defense. Cianciolo (23), Becca Fortsch (11), Calabrese (12) and Bartolone (13) protected their court contributing double digit digs. Bartolone also contributed 31 assists while commanding the offense.  

John Carroll improves to 14-10 on the season and will be back to conference play on Tuesday at 7:30 at Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center against Baldwin Wallace University.