Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Dominican University Stars opened the Midwest Invitational Volleyball Tournament hosted by Hope College on Friday, knocking off the Elmhurst College Bluejays, ranked ninth in this week AVCA Division III Top 25 Poll, in four sets before falling to the UW-Whitewater Warhawks, ranked 17th in the AVCA national poll, in four sets.

The win over Elmhurst (25-22, 22-25, 27-25, 25-19) was the Stars' second win over a Top 25 team this season as Dominican knocked off Carthage College, ranked 16th at the time, in three sets.

Freshman Christina Wilson (Homer Glen, Ill.) ran a well-balanced attack, dishing out 46 assists. Claire Dezelski (Northville, Mich.) knocked down a team-high 18 kills while Jacy Lawrence (St. Louis, Mo.) and Caitlen Foote (Dexter, Mich.) logged 14 kills apiece. For the match, Dominican posted a .208 hitting percentage, including a near flawless clinching set in the fourth when the Stars posted 18 kills on 47 attacks without a single hitting error.

On defense, Dezelski, Wilson, Lawrence and Foote all rounded out double-double efforts with 21, 18, 14 and ten digs while senior libero Liz Yakey (Sun Prairie, Wis.) led the Stars with a team-high 28 digs. I addition to the Stars' 99 digs, Dominican posted 14 blocks, six total (four solo and two assisted) by Becca Fritz (Mount Carroll, Ill.).

Dezelski again paced the Stars in the loss to Whitewater (20-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-21), posting 17 kills while Lawrence and Foote added 12 and 11 respectively. On defense, Yakey led the Stars' effort with 22 digs.

Dominican, 20-4 overall, is now 2-2 against teams in the top 25 with two matches against the top 25 on Saturday in #5 Hope and #2 Calvin to finish the Midwest Invitational. The Stars then return home to host #12 Chicago on Wednesday.