CHICAGO – Roosevelt battled in its home opener Friday evening before falling to Purdue Northwest in four sets at the Goodman Center in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action.

The Lakers and Pride engaged in a back-and-forth first set that featured five lead changes and 10 ties. Roosevelt (1-9, 0-2 GLIAC) took the first three-point lead at 9-6, but Purdue Northwest claimed the next three points to tie the match. The Pride had four set points at 24-20, but the Lakers answered the call with four straight points, ending with Lihi Zaibert's slam at the net. However, a serve into the net gave the Pride the next set point chance, and they took it for a 26-24 triumph.

There was no messing around in the second set as Roosevelt won eight straight points to take an early 9-2 advantage. Abigail Wutka had three kills during that stretch, finishing with a career-best 13 in the match, and the Lakers never relented en route to a 25-16 win. The Pride got as close as 10-5, but Roosevelt hit .433 in the set with 14 kills and a single error, led by five kills from Wutka and four from Alessia Isgro.

Purdue Northwest used a 5-0 run midway through the third set to flip the momentum in its favor and hold off Roosevelt 25-19 in the game. In the fourth set, the Lakers defense was the story with four of the team's nine blocks coming in what proved to be the final set. The Pride jumped out to a 7-1 lead before the Lakers clawed their way back to 13-12 with efficient sideouts and a few key holds of serve. However, Roosevelt struggled to string together points late in an eventual 25-18 loss.

Isgro and Nekane Parera both added nine kills to Wutka's team-high 13 as the Lakers hit .162 as a team in the match. Wutka had her most efficient outing of her freshman season by hitting .229 on 35 swings. Zoe Hutchinson dished out 20 assists to Isa Grana's 17, yet Grana was in on three blocks, one of four Lakers with at least three assisted stuffs. Parera led the way with four blocks while Ella Anne Portu and Zaibert joined Grana with three blocks.  

UP NEXT: The Lakers make the trip to the Upper Peninsula next week for matches against Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan. Roosevelt will take on Michigan Tech on Friday evening in Houghton before taking on Northern Michigan on Saturday in Marquette.