Box Score The Dominican University women’s volleyball team got tripped up on Thursday night in its quest for the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Championships, falling to the Benedictine University Eagles in five sets (25-20, 25-21, 24-26, 24-26, 15-11) in the conference tournament semifinals.
 
Christina Wilson (Homer Glen, Ill.) and Claire Dezelski (Northville, Mich.) paced the Stars in the losing effort, logging a double-double apiece led by Dezelski’s 19 kills and 14 digs while Wilson dished out 48 assists and collected 20 digs of her own.  Dezelski’s line read 19 kills on 51 attempts with seven errors for a .235 attack percentage while Wilson knocked down six kills of her own.
 
Jacy Lawrence (St. Louis, Mo.) also logged a double-double for the Stars with 17 kills and 15 digs while Caitlen Foote (Dexter, Mich.) knocked down 12 kills.
 
On the defensive side of the net, Cheyanne Kelly (Kalamazoo, Mich.) collected 20 digs while Becca Fritz (Mt. Carroll, Ill.) and Julie Schulenburg (Springfield, Ill.) logged four total blocks apiece.
 
For the Eagles, Candace Cuppini and Molly Kovacich led the offensive charge with 24 and 18 kills respectively, while setter Abby Sattler dished out 52 assists.
 
The loss drops the Stars to 24-8 and leaves the team’s fate in the hands of the NCAA Championships selection committee.  The Stars, ranked fourth in the Midwest Region in Thursday’s NCAA regional rankings, will find out on Monday if they have done enough to snag one of the 20 Pool C bids to be handed out by the selection committee.