RIVER FOREST, Ill. – With a 3-0 sweep of Maranatha tonight, the Dominican University women’s volleyball team advances to the Northern Athletics Conference tournament championship match for the third straight season.  The win also improves the Stars’ overall record to 28-5 on the season, and ends Maranatha’s 2011 campaign with a 20-7 record overall.

In the first set, the Stars used a Maranatha attack error and back-to-back kills by Jacy Lawrence (St. Louis, Mo./Villa Duchesne) and Evelyn Gamboa (Chicago, Ill./Queen of Peace) to score three quick points. The lead would then change hands eight times as Maranatha’s NAC Player of the Year, Torey DeLozier, kept her team in it with nine kills in the set, including three consecutive to give the visiting Crusaders the 16-14 lead.

But the Stars quickly recovered as they used a Maranatha ball-handling error to start an 11-2 run that took them to a first set win of 25-18. Claire Dezelski (Northville, Mich./Ladywood) went off for four kills in the spurt, while the Stars’ defense held strong with two assisted blocks.

The Stars kept things rolling in the second set, as Jess Guerrieri (Plainfield, Ill./North) handed out seven straight points with three assists and four service aces, three of which came consecutively. Dominican would run away with the set for a final score of 25-7, and kept DeLozier in check for just three kills in the set.

In set three, the Stars would recover from an 0-2 start to take the lead at 3-2 and never look back en route to a match-ending third set score of 25-16.  Four Stars would record multiple kills in the set, while three Stars would contribute to four service aces, which again included back-to-back aces from the hand of Guerrieri. It was then the Stars’ defense that ended the match, as Kellie Van Voorhis (Union Mills, Ind./LaPorte), Guerrieri, and Lawrence would all assist on the block that sent the Stars to the championship match.

Dominican will now face the Eagles of Edgewood College in the Northern Athletics Conference Women’s Volleyball Tournament championship match this Sat., Nov. 5, in a 4:30 p.m. match.  The regular season meeting between the two teams went a full five sets on the Eagles’ home court before Dominican came away with the 3-2 victory.