Lakers Women’s Volleyball Finishes Play on Day Two of Knight Invite  

INDIANAPOLIS – The Roosevelt University women's volleyball team completed it's first invitational tournament of the year on Saturday, August 26 at the Knight Invite on the campus of Marian University. Day two of the competition pit the Lakers against the Indiana University East Red Wolves followed by a rematch from the previous day against the Shawnee State Bears.

The Lakers fell behind early in the first set of match one, allowing the Red Wolves to get out to a 5-1 lead. However, Roosevelt battled back to cut the lead to three at 14-11. Kills from Vaiva Blistrabas and Nicole Darin helped cut the IU East advantage to two at 18-16, but the Lakers would not get closer than that, dropping set one 18-25.

In the second set, Emily DeBlecourt got the scoring started for the Lakers with an early kill to even the score at 1-1. Alyssa Stilley was the top performer for the Lakers in this frame, contributing three kills while adding three blocks defensively. Unfortunately, the solid play from the senior middle blocker was not enough as Roosevelt dropped set two 16-25.

Set three started on a positive note for the Lakers as Jessa Henry put the team up 1-0 with a quick service ace. The Red Wolves countered with six-straight points of their own to flip the advantage in their favor. Roosevelt slowly chipped away at the lead as consecutive kills from DeBlecourt and a second ace from Henry cut the IU East lead to 14-11. The Bears would pull away from there, finishing the match with a 25-17 win in the final set.

Match 2

In the final match of the Knight Invite, the Lakers would seek redemption for their five-set defeat at the hands of the Shawnee State Bears. Roosevelt would come out punching with two Darin kills helping to give the Lakers a 5-0 edge. Undeterred, the Bears would storm back with six-straight points of their own. After some seesaw scoring, an ace from freshman Olivia Adams would get the Lakers within a point at 14-15. However, three straight points would give Shawnee State a lead that it would not relinquish, winning set one 25-17.

Set two would also see the Lakers get on the board first with a 1-0 lead. However, despite a pair of aces from Zoe Hutchinson and Catrina Calabrese as well as two kills each from Alyssa Stilley and Logan Cofield, RU would fall in set two as well.

The third set would see the Lakers jump out to another quick 3-1 lead behind two kills from Darin. Two more kills from DeBlecourt would have Roosevelt setting the pace at 5-3, but the Bears would counter with eight of the next nine points to take a formidable 11-6 lead. The Lakers would be unable to recover, dropping the final set 17-25.

MATCH 1 DETAILS

Score:   Roosevelt                                            18           16           17          
                IU East                                                  25           25           25          

Records: Roosevelt 0-4 | IU East 6-1

Location: PE Center | Indianapolis, Ind.

MATCH 2 DETAILS

Score:   Roosevelt                                            17           11           16          
                Shawnee State                                  25           25           25          

Records: Roosevelt 0-5 | Shawnee State 2-2

Location: PE Center | Indianapolis, Ind.

NEXT UP

The Roosevelt women's volleyball team will head to Adrian Michigan for the Sienna Heights University Tournament on Friday, September 3 and Saturday, September 4. The Lakers begin tournament play against Mount Vernon Nazarene that Friday at 2 p.m. cst.