Roosevelt's Valiant Effort Goes Unrewarded Against IU Northwest

CHICAGO – A furious fifth-set rally was not enough for Roosevelt on Thursday night at the Goodman Center as the Lakers fell to Indiana Northwest at home in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup.

The Lakers (6-11, 2-6 CCAC) are no strangers to five-set matches as now more than half of their matches this season have gone the distance. The nine five-setters are a new school-record, one of several records on a bittersweet evening. Roosevelt's 25-18, 24-26, 25-21, 23-25, 15-12 setback drops their record to 4-5 in five-set matches, including 2-3 in conference matches that needed all five sets.

Emily DeBlecourt and Zoe Hutchinson were two big positives for the Lakers with historic performances in their own right. DeBlecourt racked up a career-high 18 kills in the match, many of which came at critical junctures in the match. Meanwhile, Hutchinson tied for eighth all-time in single-match assists with 49 helpers, the most in a match for the Lakers in nearly four years. It was no surprise that Hutchinson had 28 of her assists in the two sets the Lakers won Thursday with 14 apiece in the second and fourth sets.

It was a frustrating opening set for Roosevelt after it raced out to a 6-2 lead and trailed just at 10-9 in the first three-quarters of the set. Viktoria Marysheva slapped down a kill to make it 18-16 in the Lakers' favor, but the RedHawks won the final nine points of the set to take the early 1-0 lead. DeBlecourt had six of her 18 kills in the first set and Hutchinson set the tone with seven early assists, but three attack errors and three aces against doomed the Lakers in the set.

The second set was a bit more even between the two sides, although Roosevelt again jumped out to an early advantage at 5-2. This time, it was the Lakers who continuously battled back from deficits by winning critical points while down 20-19 then again while trailing 21-20. Roosevelt took the 22-21 lead, but Indiana Northwest led 23-22 before DeBlecourt evened the set yet again. Logan Cofield gave the Lakers a 25-24 lead with a kill then Hutchinson surprised almost everyone by going over in two for her only kill of the night to end the set.

Indiana Northwest ran away with the third set early by winning the first five points and seven of the first eight before a Roosevelt timeout. The deficit didn't dip below six for most of the remainder of the set until the offense started clicking again for the Lakers. They won four straight points to cut the deficit to 20-16 then again rallied to within 24-21 before the RedHawks were finally able to close out the set.

The RedHawks were helpless, though, against the Lakers' tidal wave comeback in the fourth set. Indiana Northwest took an early 5-2 lead in the game and maintained that advantage until Krista Norton and Brooke Williams combined on a block to tie the set at 21. The Lakers had taken a timeout while trailing 21-17, but one of Joana Rafols' 15 kills started the train that tied the match and the Lakers offense took care of the rest. DeBlecourt smashed down a kill to tie the set at 22 then Cofield and Norton added consecutive kills to seal the set. Cofield's eight kills were a season-high for the senior captain and were the third most on the Lakers in the match.

Roosevelt fell behind 6-1 in the fifth set, and that deficit proved to be a little too big of a hill despite another valiant effort. The Lakers battled back to 7-5 in the middle of the set then again turned an 11-5 deficit around with four straight points, the last two on kills by Yuliia Shchepkina. However, three more kills from Rafols were not enough for Roosevelt to complete the comeback in time.

The Lakers will now travel just over the Illinois-Indiana border for a Saturday afternoon match at Calumet St. Joseph with a 1 p.m. first serve scheduled in Whiting, Ind.