Lakers Ride Home Crowd Energy In Tough Loss To Eagles

CHICAGO – A raucous crowd at the Goodman Center on Wednesday night was not enough to propel Roosevelt past Judson in the Lakers' home opener in Chicago.

The energy from the near-capacity crowd was palpable as the Lakers (1-2, 0-1 CCAC) took the opening set of their first Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference match of the season. However, the visiting Eagles were able to squeeze out the final three sets to capture a 23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-20 victory. It was Roosevelt's eighth straight setback against Judson, and just the third time in those matches the Lakers have taken a set off the Eagles.

Viktoria Marysheva powered the Lakers' success in the first set as she zoomed past her 500^th career kill with her eight kills in the opening set. She racked up 12 kills before committing her first error and finished with 18 kills in the match to move into seventh-place all-time in career kills. The junior also combined on four blocks and finished one dig shy of a double-double to lead Roosevelt.

Marysheva ensured the Eagles were unable to pull too far away in the first set by using her attacking prowess. When Judson began to spark a rally early in the first set, Marysheva responded with a pair of kills with her cannon right arm. She did it again at the service line with her only ace of the match to cut the deficit to 19-18. The Eagles would win the next two points before Marysheva's teammates stepped up with a cluster of kills as Judson began to focus its attention on the Russian.

Judson jumped out to a large lead in the second set by winning the first five points and never really looked back as its advantage never dipped below three points. Roosevelt brought the fight in the third set with Marysheva poking a kill over the defense to cut the deficit to two in the middle of the set. Even after the Eagles extended their lead to seven points, the Lakers didn't quit with Emily DeBlecourt finding her groove on offense with three consecutive kills as she finished with eight for the match.

Roosevelt was able to match Judson nearly point for point in the decisive fourth set before the Eagles went on a 6-1 run to take control of the match. The Lakers made things interesting with Krista Norton stuffing an attack at the net for a solo block followed by Joana Rafols finding the corner with her attack. However, that was as close as the Lakers would get before the Eagles closed out the match.

Rafols finished with 11 kills and also led the team with 15 digs as the freshman continued to flash her versatility for Roosevelt. Olivia Adams also finished with 15 digs while DeBlecourt had 14 to anchor Roosevelt's defense. Zoe Hutchinson dished out 29 assists and was a part of two assisted blocks as Roosevelt ended with 10 total blocks in the match.

The Lakers will have Thursday off before returning to the court Friday for the first day of the Siena Heights Invitational in Adrian, Mich. Roosevelt opens the event at 4 p.m. against Kentucky Christian before facing the host Saints at 6 p.m. The Lakers will play two more matches Saturday against Georgetown at 9 a.m. and Rochester at 11 a.m.