CHICAGO – Roosevelt struggled to match its first-set performance in a straight-sets loss to Maryville on Saturday night at the Goodman Center.

The Lakers (1-9) were very competitive in the opening set, leading for much of the first half of the game before a late run gave the Saints a 25-19 win. However, the Lakers defense struggled to slow down Maryville in the second and third sets, allowing the Saints to build up big leads early before claiming the sets 25-12 and 25-16.

Andrea Di Paola and Mark Zmojdzin had six kills each to lead the team and Kajetan Bieniek added five kills. Di Paola and Miguel Mendez Palencia tied with four digs and DeShawn Hoston had eight assists in the defeat.

It was a good start for Roosevelt with the Lakers claiming three of the first four points and being the aggressors for the most part. After losing the first point of the match, the Lakers didn't trail again until it was 10-9 and didn't trail by multiple points until 14-12. However, it was at 15-13 when the set turned in Maryville's favor with the Saints winning four straight points for a six-point edge from which the Lakers couldn't recover.

Roosevelt also won the first point of the second set, but that was the last lead the Lakers would hold in the match. Maryville won the next five points to start an avalanche that led to the Saints leading 15-3 in the set. The Lakers trimmed the deficit back into single digits at 19-10, but they could not sustain any momentum to make a serious rally.

The third set was not much better for Roosevelt with Maryville jumping out to a 6-1 advantage. The backbreaker, though, was Maryville's 8-1 run that turned a manageable four-point deficit into an 11-point hole.

UP NEXT: Roosevelt hits the road next week for a spring break trip to Miami to play three games at Barry University. The Lakers will play Friday against St. John Fisher at noon then face Long Island at 3 p.m., and will match up with the host Buccaneers on Saturday at noon.