The Dominican University volleyball team upset the 20th ranked University of Chicago Maroons in four sets (25-21, 19-25, 25-20, 25-19) on Wednesday night to improve to 18-6 on the season, while dropping the Maroons to 22-8.
The Stars trailed 18-19 in the first set but after knotting the set at 19-19 with one of 13 sideouts in the set for Dominican, Jessica Guerrieri(Plainfield, Ill.) stepped back to serve four straight points to give Dominican a 23-19 advantage. After a Maroon hitting error put Dominican ahead 24-21, freshman Marissa Mafuli (Florissant, Mo.) ended the first set with one of eight kills on the night.
The Maroons took the second set 25-19 despite four kills from senior Darcy Kammeier (Kirkwood, Mo.) in the set. Kammeier ended the night with a match-high 12 kills and 14 points to go along with 12 digs.
In the third set, Guerrieri opened the set serving four straight points, capped by a block by Mafuli and senior Jessica Gallagher (Bourbonnais, Ill.), to stake the Stars to a 4-0 lead. The Maroons stormed back, taking an 8-7 lead before Dominican’s Kasey Kiepuar (Vernon Hills, Ill.) settled down the Stars with one of her five kills on the night. After the two sides traded points, Dominican claimed the lead for good at 10-9 on a ball handling error by Chicago’s Lauren Tarpey.
With a 2-1 advantage, Dominican went for the knockout blow in the fourth set, 17-8 lead with the Maroons committing 12 errors through the first 25 points of the set. Chicago raced back, pulling to within 21-18, but committed three more errors to close out the match.
Defensively, Dominican posted ten team blocks, led by Gallagher’s and Kiepura’s four total blocks apiece. Sophomore Liz Yakey (Sun Prairie, Wis.) paced the Stars with 16 digs, as the Stars posted 61 digs in the winning effort.
On Friday night Dominican will return to action, hosting the Edgewood College Eagles. The match is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start.
