Box Score CHICAGO – Roosevelt made sure to punch its ticket to the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament in style with a Senior Night sweep of Indiana South Bend at the Goodman Center on Thursday.
The Lakers (11-13, 7-7 CCAC) won 10 of the final 11 points in the match to overcome a 23-16 deficit in the third set and seal the victory. It is the first time in six years that Roosevelt has qualified for the conference tournament and does so after securing a .500 record in the league for the first time since 2015.
Roosevelt and Indiana South Bend were even for much of the first set as the team's traded points for long stretches. The Lakers opened up an 11-7 advantage thanks to some errors from the Titans, but it was back to a one-point set in a matter of moments. Yet the end of the set was again crucial with Yuliia Shchepkina smashing three kills and Viktoria Marysheva adding two during a 6-1 run to close out the opening set 25-22.
It was a similar script in the second set with the teams staying fairly close to one another while battling to a 19-19 tie. From there, Roosevelt strung together three straight points then Emily DeBlecourt ended the Titans' momentum with two kills to close out a 25-22 win in the second set.
However, the third set was almost strictly in Indiana South Bend's favor after the Titans won four of the first five points. Although Roosevelt fought back to within a point on a handful of occasions, the Lakers fell behind 23-16 and looked destined to need to regroup for a fourth set. The Titans put their next serve into the net, and that was the opening the Lakers needed as DeBlecourt and Joana Rafols had early kills and Marysheva finished off a 7-0 rally with a kill to tie the match.
Indiana South Bend created a set point at 24-23, but sent the next serve long to give the Lakers hope with Olivia Adams stepping up to the service line. The sophomore delivered her team-best 45th ace of the season to give the Lakers their first lead in the set. Marysheva did the rest by securing match point with her 17th kill of the evening.
Marysheva led the way with an efficient 17 kills on 31 swings while hitting a career-best .484. Shchepkina added 10 kills for the Lakers and DeBlecourt added seven to help Roosevelt hit .226 as a team. Isa Grana and Zoe Hutchinson split duties at setter with Grana serving up 22 assists and Hutchinson dishing out 14. The defense was also on point for Roosevelt with DeBlecourt leading the team with 13 digs followed by Rafols with 12 and Adams with 11.
Prior to Thursday's match, Roosevelt honored its four seniors this season: Logan Cofield, Emily DeBlecourt, Alyssa Rodda and Gabrielle Teory.
The Lakers will open the postseason Tuesday against St. Ambrose in Davenport, Iowa in the quarterfinals. Roosevelt is 1-4 all-time in the conference tournament, having advanced to the semifinals a decade ago.
