Fighting Bees Sting Lakers In CCAC Setback At Home

CHICAGO – Roosevelt's strong start did not last Thursday night as St. Ambrose won the final three sets to claim the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup in four sets at the Goodman Center.

The Lakers (8-13, 1-5 CCAC) came out ready to play and took the opening set 25-23 by winning five of the last six points. The second set was a see-saw as the teams traded points for the second half of the set before the Fighting Bees claimed a 27-25 victory. St. Ambrose pulled away late to take the third set 25-18 then won the fourth set 25-17 to close out the match.

In the first set, Roosevelt was at its best offensively with a mixture of attackers, who were all efficient with their swings. The Lakers had a .250 hitting percentage as a team in the first set with Lachlan Diamond and Andrea DiPaola leading the way with four kills each. Miguel Mendez Palencia added three kills on six attacks while also contributing four digs.

DiPaola ended the match with a team-best 20 kills and Palencia added 10 kills himself, but the Lakers had no answer for the Fighting Bees' defense. St. Ambrose finished with 16 total blocks in the match and the Lakers added just six themselves. Diamond had four of those stuffs while Kenny Koster added three blocks as well for the Lakers.

Palencia also added 12 digs and Piero Eletto had 15 digs to help keep the Lakers in points and extend rallies against St. Ambrose. Both teams had more than 110 attacks in the match and the Lakers finished with 51 total kills in the four sets. DiPaola also had three aces to lead Roosevelt from the service line while Michele Bascape dished out 39 assists in the setback.

The Lakers head across town on Saturday for a tri-match at Saint Xavier starting at 11 a.m. Roosevelt will first play its conference match against the 10^th-ranked Cougars before facing off with Lawrence Tech for the second time this season in a non-conference match at 1 p.m.