MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – Roosevelt could not hold on to its momentum while falling in four sets in both of its matches Friday at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida.

The Lakers (1-11) won the first set in both matches Friday, marking the fourth time in the last seven matches Roosevelt has jumped out to a 1-0 lead. However, St. John Fisher stormed back to win the final three sets to claim a 22-25, 25-17, 31-29, 25-18 win. It was a similar story against LIU as the Lakers fell 20-25, 25-22, 25-15, 25-21.

ST. JOHN FISHER 3, ROOSEVELT 1
The Lakers went toe-to-toe with the 13^th-ranked team in Division III, proving they can play with the better teams in the country. The first set was a roller coaster of wild runs and it was Roosevelt that had the final streak to seal the deal.

With the Lakers trailing 17-15, Mark Zmojdzin started a 4-0 run with a kill and Diego Esquivel served up a clutch ace before Andrea Di Paola and Zmojdzin added kills. A pair of Kajetan Bieniek kills a short time later gave the Lakers a 23-20 lead and Roosevelt closed the set with Bieniek and Lachlan Diamond teaming up for a block.

The Cardinals served up six aces in the second set, including three straight that capped off the back-breaking 7-1 run from St. John Fisher to break a 10-10 tie. Roosevelt closed the gap to three points with one of three aces on the match for Zmojdzin, but the Cardinals won the next five points to claim the set.

Roosevelt came close to pulling off a massive comeback in the third set, transforming into a far different team than the one that played the first half of the set. St. John Fisher quickly opened up a multiple-point lead and stretched it to as much as nine points late in the set. The Cardinals found themselves up 22-15 before a service error gave the Lakers some life in the set.

Bieniek served up an ace and Esquivel slammed down one of his six kills in the set to force a timeout from St. John Fisher with a four-point lead. St. John Fisher was two points away from winning the set, but it was Roosevelt that earned the first set point by winning six straight points against the Cardinals. The Lakers had two more set points in overtime, but could not capitalize before falling 31-29.

The final set looked eerily identical to the third set with the Cardinals able to amass a sizable lead early. However, there was no comeback to be had for the Lakers, who got as close as 13-10 in the set.

Roosevelt had four players finish in double figures in kills with Esquivel leading the way with 13. Di Paola and Zmojdzin each had 12 while Bieniek finished with 11 kills. Michele Bascape dished out 38 assists while Diamond was part of four of the Lakers' five blocks in the match.

LIU 3, ROOSEVELT 1
Esquivel played a large part in the Lakers breaking open the first set against the Sharks and claiming that first game. His kill broke a 15-15 deadlock then he served up two aces after a pair of LIU attack errors to give Roosevelt a 20-15 lead. The lead dipped to three at one point, but otherwise the Lakers held their own to finish off the set.

The second set was very tight much of the way with neither team able to lead by more than two until the Sharks pulled ahead 22-19. Despite the Lakers pulling close with back-to-back kills from Bascape and Bieniek, LIU was able to score the point it needed to tie the match.

LIU was in full control of the third set for much of it, winning four straight points to fully distance itself from Roosevelt with a six-point edge. The Lakers were never able to whittle the deficit below five points and again faced a must-win situation in the fourth set.

Roosevelt made things interesting in the fourth set after trailing for much of it by trimming a six-point deficit down to two. Zmojdzin came up with a kill at 19-13 LIU then followed that with a solo block. Esquivel served up two more aces to make it 19-17, but that proved to be as close as the Lakers could get in the set.

Di Paola led the Lakers with 13 kills on a .345 hitting percentage in the loss and Bieniek finished with 10 kills. Esquivel didn't have as many kills as he did in the first match against St. John Fisher, but he supplemented his six kills with five aces. Bascape assisted 31 times and Zmojdzin had four total blocks.

UP NEXT: The Lakers close out the trip to Florida on Saturday with a match against the hosts, Barry, at noon.