RIVER FOREST, Ill. – The Dominican University women’s volleyball team would need a fourth set tonight to put away the visiting Muskies of Lakeland College, but came out on top to keep their conference record perfect at 7-0.  The win also improves their overall record to 16-4.

The Stars once again showed their balance as eight different players would contribute to the team’s 42 kills and 46 digs, and five different players would tally assists, blocks, and service aces in the match. Category leaders were Jacy Lawrence (St. Louis, Mo./Villa Duchesne) with 11 kills and four service aces, Claire Dezelski (Northville, Mich./Ladywood) and Liz Yakey (Sun Prairie, Wis.) with 12 digs apiece, Jess Guerrieri (Plainfield, Ill./North) with 31 assists, and Dezelski with three blocks.

Set one ended 25-21 in favor of the Stars after Dezelski led the team with four kills and a service ace, while Guerrieri dished out nine assists.

In the second, the Stars were hot from behind the service line, dropping six service aces on the visiting Muskies (6-16, 3-4 NAC), including three consecutive aces off the hand of Lawrence.  Dominican would lead by as many as 13 (20-7) before taking the set 25-18. 

Things were tight in the third set, as the score would reach its seventh tie at 11-11.  From that point, the Muskies would take and keep the lead that would get no larger than four at 21-17.  Dominican would keep things close and shorten the gap 21-23, but that would be as close as they would get before the set ended 25-21 in favor of Lakeland.

In the fourth Dominican took charge right away, allowing the score to tie just once at 4-4.  From there, the Stars would see five players record 10 kills with assists from three different players. Becca Fritz (Mount Carroll, Ill./West Carroll) led the way with four kills in the set, and Dezelski ended her night with nine kills for a .429 attack percentage.

The Stars host a triangular match tomorrow, October 8, against NAC foe Marian University (10 AM) and Robert Morris University (2 PM). The two visitors will face each other at 12 PM.