CHICAGO – Roosevelt dropped its home opener in straight sets Friday evening against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Purdue Northwest despite a milestone day for Zoe Hutchinson at the Goodman Center.

The Lakers (1-10, 0-3 GLIAC) fell 25-17, 25-9, 25-17 to the Pride in their first home match of the season after four weeks on the road. Viktoria Marysheva led the way with eight kills and Yuliia Shchepkina added two blocks and four kills. Cydney Martinez had a team-best five digs and also had the only two aces of the match for Roosevelt.

Roosevelt fed off the energy from the crowd to start the match as it traded points with Purdue Northwest. The Pride ripped off a 6-0 run to take control of the opening set and the Lakers didn't get closer than six points. Purdue Northwest had three separate streaks of at least five consecutive points in the second set to easily take that one.

Not willing to go down without a fight, the Lakers clawed back from an early 9-3 deficit to close the gap to one point three separate times. However, Roosevelt couldn't secure that critical point to tie the set, leaving the Pride to complete the sweep.

MILESTONE MOMENT: In the third set, Zoe Hutchinson hit 1,000 career assists with a dish to Natalia Smiech to cut the Lakers deficit to 12-7. Hutchinson becomes the fifth Roosevelt player to hit 1,000 career assists and is just 96 assists away from taking over fourth place in the all-time record book.

BARAC DEBUTS: Friday marked the Roosevelt debut for Aleksandra Barac, a transfer from Governors State. The outside hitter from Belgrade, Serbia dealt with visa issues that delayed her arrival at Roosevelt, but after a week of practice, she had a kill and an error on her two attacks while playing in the second set.

UP NEXT: Roosevelt searches for its first GLIAC win Saturday at 3 p.m. against Parkside back at the Goodman Center.