Chicago, Ill. -- The Indiana University Northwest women's volleyball team against St. Xavier in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference match, 3-1, Thursday.

The RedHawks (1-1, 1-0 CCAC) defeated the Cougars (1-5, 0-1 CCAC) in four sets, after falling in the first set, 22-25, IUN came back to win three straight, 27-25, 25-21, 25-23 to win the match at the Shannon Center in Chicago, Illinois. 

SXU took an early 9-6 advantage in the opening set but the RedHawks rallied to tie the game at 10-all thanks to a kill by senior Mya Garrett (South Holland, Ill.) The Cougars scored four out of the five points before another rally by IUN tied it at 15-15 with a kill by sophomore Emileishka De Jesus (Hobart, Ind./Hobart).

Junior Erica Kik (Griffith, Ind./Griffith) gave the RedHawks a 18-17 lead after picking up the kill. SXU tied the match at 20-all then rallied for the next five out of seven points to take the first set, 25-22.

Both teams went back and forth to start the second set then after being tied 4-4, IUN scored eight points in a row to go ahead 12-4 capped off by a block by Kik. SXU rallied for a 14-6 run to pull within 18-16.  The Cougars did not go away in the set as they tied it 25-25 then IUN scored back-to-back points capped off by a kill by De Jesus to tie the match at 1-1.

Both teams started the third set going back-and-forth, trading points, making it 9-9. IUN made a 6-1 run to go ahead 15-10. SXU rallied and cut it to 1, 22-21, but the RedHawks scored three in a row including a kill by De Jesus which won the third set.

The fourth set started similar to the previous one both teams trading points and being tied 5-5 before the RedHawks scored the next three points. The RedHawks led 17-12 midway through the fourth set, SXU used a timeout and made it 18-17 in favor of IUN then tied it 21-21.

IUN was able to hold off SXU after scoring four out of the last six points to win the fourth set, 25-23, and win the match, 3-1.

De Jesus led the RedHawks with a double-double, recording 21 kills with a .422 attack percentage and 10 digs. Senior Cara Nebel (Portage, Ind./Portage) was successful in finding the attacker at the right moment and picked up 24 assists. Junior Caitlin Alwine (Goshen, Ind.) was stellar on defense, picking up 19 digs. 

IUN returns to the volleyball court Saturday, September 7 as the RedHawks travel to Moody Bible Institute to take on the Archers starting at 2 p.m. CT.