By Philippe Chauveau
Transcript Reporter
The Ohio Wesleyan volleyball team fell 1-3 to the John Carroll Blue Streaks on Tuesday night in Branch Rickey Arena.
The Lady Bishops had a good start to the first set, pulling ahead 9-2 at one point. But John Carroll rallied back and took their first lead at 19 to 18. The game was close until the 24th point, when OWU and JCU were tied. The set ended with the Blue Streaks winning 28 to 26.
“The team had good chemistry and played well against a strong opponent,” said junior Matt Hunter, one of the students at Tuesday night’s game.
The second set was better one for the Lady Bishops. They took a late lead 19-18, and solid defensive play kept the team ahead.
John Carrol had narrowed the margin to 24-23 when sophomore Meigan Day blocked an opponent’s spike to end the set 2-23. The Bishops were back in the game, and the third set was a crucial one.
During the third set JCU first pulled away by seven, gaining an 18-11 lead; they then increased the lead to nine, 22 to 13. It was a lost set for the Lady Bishops, who had to win the fourth set in order to avoid defeat.
“They would go on long rallies and score consecutive points,” Day said. “We struggled to come back from those.”
They kept to pace with the Blue Streaks and didn’t allow them to go on the runs described earlier by Day. Yet, the Blue Streaks were too consistent for the Lady Bishops. After being tied at 18 to 18, the Lady Bishops suffered a five consecutive point loss. The score was now 23 to 18 for JCU.
After a time out, Ohio Wesleyan managed to get two points back, by on another mistake by an OWU player, the Blue Streaks closed the set at 25 to 20. The game was over at 3 – 1 for John Carroll, and it was a tough home loss for OWU.
“I think they’re still working through some kinks,” said junior Margaux Erilane, and former OWU volleyball player. “Half of the team are freshmen, and they lost four key seniors from last year. The talent is there, they just need to learn how to play together,” said Erilane. “I know the coach has been playing around with different line-ups to see what works best.”
Day said, “Knowing this team we are prepared to learn from it and move forward.”
The Lady Bishops also dropped two more games Saturday Sept. 21. Losing 0-3 to Allegheny and 0-3 to Westminster.