CHICAGO – The Olivet Nazarene University women's volleyball team started its final road trip of the season taking down the Roosevelt University Lakers in four sets at the Goodman Center on Tuesday night. 

A service ace by Kaitlyn McMahan kicked off the scoring for the Tigers in the opening set of the match.  Then, kills by Katarina Nikolic, Carleigh Johnson, and Becca Bell enabled the Tigers to take an early 6-4 lead.  The Tigers were up 14-9 until the Lakers marked eight of the next ten points and took the lead, 17-16.  However, here came the Tigers as Nikolic sparked a 5-0 run and retook the lead 21-17.  ONU went on to win the first set, 25-19, after winning four of the final five points. 

The Tigers got off to a hot start scoring the first five points highlighted by a pair of service aces by McMahan and kills from Nikolic and Bell.  The rest of the set was all Tigers as they never let the Lakers cut into their deficit.  At 8-3, Bell, Rachel Newport, and Johnson notched three straight kills as the Tigers led, 11-3.  After the Lakers cut the Tiger lead to six at 21-15, ONU sealed the second set victory, at 25-15, after Janelle Skinner and Anna McGovern picked up kills and Brianna Cannon sent over a service ace. 

The Lakers scored the first five points of the third set until Nikolic broke up that run with a kill.  After ONU closed the gap to 7-4, Roosevelt went on a 7-0 run and extended their lead to 14-4.  The Tigers came back with kills from Bell and Sutton Bate to make the score, 14-8. ONU had another chance to close the gap on the Lakers.  At 18-10, kills from McGovern, Skinner, and Bell highlighted a 6-1 run making the score, 19-16.  Unfortunately, the Lakers marked five of the final six points and defeated the Tigers in the third set, 25-18.

The Tigers jumped on the Lakers early in the fourth set as they marked eight of the first ten points.  Newport, Skinner, and Johnson all notched kills and McMahan sent over another ace, during that stretch.  ONU kept its foot on the gas as they led by as much as 10 points at times during the set.  The Lakers did not have an answer for the Tigers at all during the set as they never closed the gap to six points or less. 

Nikolic sealed the Tiger win in the fourth set as she connected on the final two kills of the match.  ONU won the fourth set, convincingly, 25-14, and took the match in four sets.   

MATCH VITALS

Finals: First Set: ONU 25, Roosevelt 19 | Second Set: ONU 25, Roosevelt 15 | Third Set: Roosevelt: 25, ONU 18 | Fourth Set: ONU 25, Roosevelt 14

Records: Olivet Nazarene: 18-8 (14-3 CCAC) | Roosevelt: 3-25 (0-17 CCAC)

Location: Goodman Center | Roosevelt University | Chicago, Ill.

QUICK HITS

• Bell led the Tigers with 13 kills and hit .346
• Nikolic followed Bell with 12 kills.
• Skinner led the Tiger with 41 assists
• McMahan led the team with 17 digs. 
• The Tigers held the 50-31 advantage in kills and a 10-4 advantage in service aces. 

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Tigers conclude the regular season on Thursday, November 4th traveling to Saint Xavier University.  The opening service is set for 7 p.m. and please check onutigers.com for more information. 

--ONU—

*Contact: Sam Viebrock, Sports Information Director, stviebrock@olivet.edu