Lakers Battle To Impressive Showing At Siena Heights

ADRIEN, Mich. – Viktoria Marysheva was named to the all-tournament team as she paced Roosevelt to a 3-1 showing at the Siena Heights Invitational in Adrien, Mich. this weekend.

The Lakers (4-3) certainly put in plenty of work during the four-match weekend with three of the four games going the full five sets. They barely had to break a sweat in their first match with a dominant rout of Kentucky Christian in straight sets Friday night. Roosevelt then went the distance in a tough five-set loss to Siena Heights on Friday before responding with consecutive five-set wins Saturday over Georgetown and Rochester.

Marysheva led the way for the Lakers with 53 kills across the four matches and recorded a double-double in three of those matches with digs. Joanna Rafols registered 39 kills and recorded a .250 hitting percentage for the four matches in the tournament, with most of that coming in Saturday's two matches. Yuliia Shchepkina had eight total blocks on the weekend in addition to 32 kills to help the Lakers attack.

In the opener of the weekend, the Lakers wasted no time showing who the better team was after Zoe Hutchinson served up the first 12 points of the match. The sophomore setter finished the match with five aces in addition to 19 assists while Roosevelt cruised to a 25-7, 25-12, 25-11 win over Kentucky Christian. Marysheva had 11 kills to just one error in the victory while Shchepkina added eight kills for the Lakers.

It was intense battle to close out Friday's action, but Siena Heights were able to escape with a 22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12 win over Roosevelt. Rafols had 11 kills and just two errors in the loss as the Lakers' hitting percentage told the story of the match. The Lakers hit .266 in the two sets they won in the match while they hit just .06 in the three sets they lost.

Saturday started with a topsy-turvy match against Georgetown that was truly a reflection of two different versions of the Roosevelt team. The Lakers fought for a 25-23 win in the first set before consecutive setbacks 25-7 and 25-12 in the second and third set, respectively. Roosevelt rallied for a 25-23 win in the fourth set before securing the win with a 15-13 victory in the decider. Marysheva was the only Lakers player who finished in double figures for kills with 13 in the match.

The Lakers closed the weekend with a strong 25-13, 14-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-6 win over Rochester just minutes after their first match concluded. Rafols led the way with 15 kills in the match while Marysheva had 14 finishes. Hutchinson added four aces as well for Roosevelt to finish with 12 aces on the weekend and also recorded a weekend-high 24 assists in the win over Rochester.

Roosevelt will return to Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference action Tuesday night at the Goodman Center when St. Francis visits Chicago for a 7 p.m. first serve.