RIVER FOREST, Ill. – With a 3-1 victory over the Benedictine Eagles, the Dominican University Stars women’s volleyball team clinched the 2011 Northern Athletics Conference regular season title today in the Igini Sports Forum.  The win improves the Stars’ record to 25-5 overall and a perfect 11-0 in conference play.

With the score tied 8-8 in the first set, Dominican fired off 12 straight points despite two Benedictine (16-10, 9-2 NAC) timeouts in attempt to slow the Stars’ offense.  Senior Kellie Van Voorhis (Union Mills, Ind./La Porte) led the 12-0 charge with four thunderous kills in the stretch.  It was then sophomore Claire Dezelski (Northville, Mich./Ladywood) who would heat up to record three kills in the next five Stars’ points to end the set 25-11.

In the second, the score would reach a 10-10 tie before a kill by Becca Fritz (Mount Carroll, Ill./West Carroll) gave the Stars a lead they would not give up.  Seven Stars’ kills later, Dominican would go up 2-0 in the match after taking the set 25-17. 

But the visiting Eagles were not about to be swept in three sets. They grabbed the first point of the third set and never looked back, as they closed the gap 2-1 with a 25-14 third set victory.

In the fourth set, things stayed close as neither team would lead by more than three points throughout the match.  With the score 17-14 in favor of Benedictine, the Stars answered with back-to-back connections from Jess Guerrieri (Plainfield, Ill./North) to Jacy Lawrence (St. Louis, Mo./Villa Duchesne) to close the gap 17-16 Benedictine.

Again, the visiting Eagles would make their way to another three-point lead (22-19).  But this time it was a kill by Dezelski that gave some momentum back to Dominican and allowed them to tie things up 22-22.

The teams would exchange the next four points to bring the score 24-24 before back-to-back kills by Evelyn Gamboa (Chicago, Ill./Queen of Peace) and Van Voorhis would seal the match and Northern Athletics Conference title for the Stars.

Guerrieri handed out a match-high 45 assists to run the powerful Stars’ offense, while three would record double-digit kills in the match. Dezelski’s 16 was a match-high, while Van Voorhis hit for an outstanding .625 attack percentage with 11 kills on 16 attempts with just one error. Lawrence also made her impact with 10 kills, while Gamboa would end the day just one kill shy of double-digits with nine kills.

Defensively, Liz Yakey (Sun Prairie, Wis.) picked up a match-high 23 digs for the Stars, while Dezelski chipped in with eight and Lawrence and Cheyanne Kelly (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central) came away with seven digs apiece.

The Stars will close out their regular season at Rockford College next Wednesday, October 26, as they will look to complete an undefeated 2011 Northern Athletics Conference campaign.  Match start time is 7 p.m.