CHICAGO – Roosevelt couldn't maintain its strong start Friday at home, falling in four sets to Wayne State at the Goodman Center in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action.

The Lakers (4-22, 2-13 GLIAC) came out ready for the battle, claiming the first set 25-19 behind strong plays on both offense and defense. They pushed the Warriors in the second set until falling 25-20 before Wayne State was able to hold off any comeback with 25-14 and 25-16 wins in the next two sets.

After Wayne State won the first two points of the match, the opening set began to turn in Roosevelt's favor. The Lakers tied the set at 3 then never trailed the rest of the game while leading by as many as seven in the set. Emily DeBlecourt had six kills and no errors on 10 swings to lead the first-set offense while Aleksandra Barac and Viktoria Marysheva each had four kills.

It was a similar story in the second set as the teams traded points to begin the set before the Warriors went on a 5-0 run to break an 8-8 deadlock. A timeout helped settle down the Lakers and they were able to trim the deficit to two on a couple of occasions in the second set. There was no such silver lining in the third set as Wayne State captured the first six points and never looked back.

Roosevelt was a re-focused group in the fourth set and it showed with four blocks as part of the competitive effort. The Lakers didn't trail in the fourth set until it was 15-14 in the Warriors' favor, but that was just the beginning of Roosevelt's troubles. Wayne State scored 13 of the final 15 points in the match, turning the Lakers' early lead into a deceptively lopsided set score.

Barac and Marysheva both had 10 kills to lead the Lakers while DeBlecourt finished with nine in the match. The Lakers served up eight aces in the match, led by two each from DeBlecourt, Marysheva and Cydney Martinez, who also had a team-best 14 digs. The defense was on point as well for Roosevelt with Krista Norton and Yuliia Shchepkina both assisting on half of Roosevelt's 10 blocks with DeBlecourt adding four assisted stuffs as well.

SENIOR NIGHT: Prior to Friday's match, Roosevelt honored its three seniors who were instrumental in paving the way for the Lakers to enter Division II. Marysheva and Norton were both honored pregame along with Ja'Nya Wilkes who made her first appearance of the season for Roosevelt. Wilkes started the match and recorded a dig before being substituted out due to lingering injuries.

UP NEXT: Roosevelt closes out its inaugural NCAA Division II season Saturday at 4 p.m. against No. 19 Grand Valley State at the Goodman Center.