Lakers Snap Skid With Five-Set Win Over Fighting Bees

CHICAGO – Roosevelt kept its composure in the critical moments and edged out a five-set win over St. Ambrose in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference match Tuesday night at the Goodman Center to snap a six-game losing skid.

Zoe Hutchinson began the match by serving four straight points to give the Lakers (6-10, 2-5 CCAC) an early advantage in the first set. They would not relinquish the lead the remainder of the set, never letting their advantage slip below two points. Roosevelt scored 13 kills in the opening set and hit at a .435 clip to claim the 25-20 win in the opening set.

The Fighting Bees showed a bit more life to start the second set, but the Lakers found another gear yet again with Olivia Adams at the service line. The sophomore stayed at the line for seven straight points to turn a 5-4 deficit into an 11-5 lead. During the run, Adams served up three of her seven aces to solidify the lead. She then ended the 25-16 set with two more aces sandwiched around a Joana Rafols kill to end a 9-2 set-closing run.

St. Ambrose took the third and fourth sets by fending off a feisty Roosevelt squad that never went away. The Lakers hit .400 in the third set, but the Fighting Bees offense found a rhythm to claim the set 25-20. Roosevelt was not nearly as efficient in the fourth set, but still scrapped its way back from 16-10 to 17-15 and again from 24-20 to 24-22 before falling 25-22.

Roosevelt turned the corner in a big way in the fifth set with Emily DeBlecourt smashing down a kill to take a 3-2 lead. The Lakers then coaxed the Fighting Bees into three straight errors to take a 6-2 lead and force a timeout from St. Ambrose. The Fighting Bees hung around and closed the gap to 8-7 before the Lakers finally pulled away for a 15-11 victory in the final set.

Viktoria Marysheva led the way for the Lakers with 14 kills as one of three players with double-digit kills in the match. DeBlecourt smacked down 13 kills to finish one shy of her career high while matching her career high with a .500 hitting percentage in the match. Rafols finished with 12 kills in the match and added seven digs to finish one off DeBlecourt's team lead of eight digs. Zoe Hutchinson set up 31 assists, breaking 30 helpers for just the second time this season.

The Lakers will swing right back into action Thursday night at the Goodman Center when they host Indiana Northwest for a 7 p.m. match.