Box Score CHICAGO, Ill. - In a battle against the top team in the conference, the TIU Volleyball team suffered a straight set defeating, falling to St. Xavier 3-0 (10-25,23-25,16-25) on Wednesday evening.

The Cougars grabbed an early 5-0 lead to open the first set, and never looked back from there. The Trojans could not get anything going offensivley, only registering 10 points in the match's first game.

The second set saw a much better performance from the Trojans. Midway through the set the Cougars began to pull away, but after being down 17-13 the Trojans rattled off four consecutive points, thanks to kills from Deb Kovalczuk and Hannah Matthew to even the set at 17 points. A back and forth finish in the latter part of the set saw St. Xavier come out on top after breaking the 23-23 tie to take a commanding two set lead.

The Cougars eventually took the third set in the match 25-16 after taking advantage of five Trojan errors.

Kovalczuk had the best performance of her Trojan career, leading TIU with 11 kills on the evening. Senior Becca Kowalczuk led the way defensivley for TIU, registering 11 digs.

A busy weekend lies ahead for TIU as the Trojans travel to Davenport Iowa to compete in the CCAC Crossover Tournament.