CHICAGO – Roosevelt's home opener was spoiled by Quincy on Thursday night as the Hawks held off the Lakers in four sets at the Goodman Center.

It was a battle of grit between the two teams and it was evident how even the squads were in the volleyball played on the court. The teams traded off 25-20 set victories in the first two games before the Hawks claimed the third set 25-21 and the fourth 25-20.

The opening set was Roosevelt's worst in the match with the offense failing to find open space on the floor with its attacks. The Lakers (0-2) hit just .107 in the set and never led as Quincy pulled away with a 7-2 run that was punctuated by Roosevelt's second timeout in the set. The lone bright spot on offense was Mark Zmojdzin, who had six kills on 10 attacks to pace the team.

Roosevelt was ready to go in the second set and the defense rose to the occasion to jumpstart the attack. Three of the Lakers' four blocks came in the set, including consecutive stuffs at the net to give Roosevelt an 18-15 edge. Zmojdzin had four kills in the set, but the rest of the attackers started to fire as well, notably Andrea Di Paola adding five kills on six swings.

In the third set, the Hawks maintained the lead after breaking a 9-9 tie, but they never were able to shake the Lakers. Roosevelt stayed within two or three for much of the set before Quincy finally was able to finish the set.

It was much the same in the fourth with Roosevelt playing scrappy every point. The Lakers were diving all over the floor to keep points alive and twice caught the Hawks by surprise with their digs. Kajetan Bieniek had half of his 10 kills in the fourth set, but a small run by Quincy midway through the set was enough daylight for the Hawks to close out the match.

Zmojdzin led three players in double figures with 16 kills with Di Paola adding 12 and Bieniek finishing with his 10. Michele Bascape dished out 38 assists to lead the team while Bieniek and Di Paola led the way defensively with seven and six digs, respectively. Lachlan Diamond was in on three of Roosevelt's four blocks in the match with a solo stuff and a pair of assisted blocks.

UP NEXT: The Lakers will be off for two weeks before getting a chance to avenge Thursday's loss to Quincy. Roosevelt will open the Quincy Invite on Jan. 31 against the host Hawks with first serve scheduled for 6 p.m.