The Dominican University women's volleyball team booked their return to the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament championship match for the third straight year and the sixth time in the last seven years with a four-set (25-20, 25-18, 19-25, 25-17) win over the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons in the Igini Sports Forum on Thursday evening.
 
"We had a lot of hustle and took care of our first contact," commented Jeanne Czipri, the Stars' second-year head coach following the match.  "Our offense was mixing it up which is something we've been working a lot on.  As long as we stay in system and take care of that first contact, we're okay."
 
Senior setter Christina Wilson (Homer Glen, Ill.) led the Stars, collecting her 22^nd double-double of the season with 50 assists and 16 digs.  Behind Wilson, the Stars hit .179 for the match, utilizing six different attackers.
 
"Anyone that has that kind of kid, is lucky—is fortunate," said Czipri when asked about Wilson.  "She's just one of those setters that is consistent, she's steady—she doesn't show a lot of emotion.  She's a good decision maker and we are real, real lucky to have her."
 
Wilson's main weapons offensively were her middles, Tessa Griparis (Belleair, Fla.) and Kendyl Todd (Crete, Ill.) who knocked down 14 and 13 kills respectively.  Griparis hit an impressive .522 on her 23 attacks, the best hitting percentage for the Stars' junior since she hit .538 all the way back on September 4.
 
Rosalyn Wyse (Greenville, Mich.) rounded out the Stars' trio in double-digit kills with 12 kills on 41 swings while Alex Kisten (Huntley, Ill.) and Maddi Zanoni (Hudsonville, Mich.) added eight and seven kills respectively.
 
"They were definitely focused on Kendyl and limiting her kills," said Czipri.  "She found a lot of different shots that she normally doesn't take, and still found ways to score."
 
"Tessa had a fantastic game, was mixing up her shots.  We needed our middles to play well and they did—that helps us win."
 
Defensively, Dominican posted ten blocks and 79 digs, paced by Caitlen Foote's (Dexter, Mich.) 23 digs, to hold the Falcons to a .126 hitting percentage, nearly thirty points below the Falcons' season average.  Griparis and Todd had five total blocks each while Zanoni tallied three block assists and Audrey Wyse (Greenville, Mich.) and Olivia Szuszkiewicz (Barrington, Ill.) added 14 and ten digs.
 
 Lauren Nevinski led the Falcons with 11 kills and four block assists for a total of 13 points in the losing effort.
 
Dominican, now 24-9 on the season and ranked eighth in the NCAA's Midwest Regional Rankings released on Thursday, will head up to Madison, Wisconsin, to take on the Edgewood College Eagles, the top seed in the 2015 NACC Tournament.  The Stars and Eagles are no strangers in the NACC title match, having met for the NACC Championship four out of the last five seasons with Dominican claiming three championships and the Eagles one.