John Carroll put up a tremendous fight in the opening game but ultimately fell in straight sets in a win or go home matchup between the #7 seed Blue Streaks and the host and #2 seed Otterbein Cardinals Tuesday night in Westerville, Ohio.

Early energy in this Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal round match allowed the Blue and Gold to trade points and put the pressure on the Cardinals. As a result, late in the set the score was tied up at 17. Long rallies at the net allowed the Streaks to put pressure on the Cardinals and force them into a tight battle right until the end..

Becca Fortsch had a big moment, delivering a service ace to make the score 23-22, still in favor of Otterbein but forcing a Cardinal timeout.

A huge block by Audrey Hardig gave John Carroll the lead at 24-23 and forced another Otterbein timeout.

John Carroll led 25-24 and had a chance to serve out the first set, but two Otterbein kills and an attacking error by the Blue Streaks flipped the script and the home team took game one, 27-25.

A slow start in the second set started with John Carroll trailing by a 10-5 score. Brooke Hjerpe brought some momentum to the Blue Streak offense and Sarah Calabrese with smart court sense tried to keep the Blue Streaks within reach. John Carroll fought back to bring the Cardinals within striking distance, but Otterbein prevailed, 25-19.

John Carroll struggled to get their groove in the early parts of set three. The Blue Streaks called a timeout at 12-5, but Otterbein continued to bring the heat, growing their lead to as large as 19-5 before a Blue Streaks' kill ended the run.

A short burst of a serving run by Sarah Parey gave the Blue Streaks some life, bringing the score to 22-10.

But the run was short lived, as Otterbein closed out the set and the match with a 25-13 win.

Calabrese and Hjerpe each had 11 kills to pace the JCU offense. Caitlin Cianciolo, in her final career match, recorded 18 digs, leaving her career total at 1,533 -- seventh best all-time. She also finished with 140 service aces -- sixth best all-time.

With the loss, John Carroll's 2018 campaign ends with a record of 15-14