The Dominican University women's volleyball team split a pair of matches on day one of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference (IIAC-NACC) Challenge on Friday, taking a five-set match from the Coe College Kohawks (25-18, 24-26, 26-24, 18-25, 15-8) before being swept in a tight, three-set match with the Wartburg College Knights (26-24, 27-25, 25-21).
 
"While the day didn't go quite as we had hoped," said Jeanne Czipri, the Stars' head coach, "there were a lot of positives and growth.  We are slowly but surely improving on some of our weaknesses and working on maximizing our strengths.  We played two teams that challenged specific aspects of our game and we saw big effort from the girls to work through that.  I think we are going to peak at the right time."
 
Christina Wilson (Homer Glen, Ill.) logged her tenth double-double for the Stars as she led Dominican's charge in the win over Coe.  The senior setter collected five kills, 48 assists and 21 digs as the Stars hit .409 in the deciding fifth set to seal the victory.
 
Sophomore Kendyl Todd (Crete, Ill.) knocked down a match-high 15 kills as three attackers reached double-figure kills for Dominican in the winning effort.  Todd's classmate Alex Kisten (Huntley, Ill.) added 13 kills while junior Carri Chambers (Winnebago, Ill.) logged ten.
 
Defensively, senior Caitlen Foote (Dexter, Mich.) collected a match-high 35 digs to lead Dominican in a 107-dig effort that helped limit the Kohawks' attack to a .161 hitting percentage.  Olivia Szuszkiewicz (Barrington, Ill.) added 14 digs while Chambers and Rosalyn Wyse (Greenville, Mich.) had 12 digs apiece.
 
After a brief respite, Dominican returned to the court against the Knights in a sloppy match that saw neither team hit above .150 for the match.
 
Dominican, led by Wilson's 46 assists and 16 digs, hit just .140 for the match, committing 26 errors, including seven solo blocks by the Knights.  Kisten was solid in the loss, posting 15 kills on 41 swings while committing five errors.  Todd added 11 kills for her ninth double-digit kill effort of the season, including six straight.
 
Defensively, the Stars collected 107 digs in the three-set loss, led by Foote's 33 digs as the senior libero upped her digs per set average to 5.51, second in the NACC.
 
With the split, Dominican's record goes to 10-6 on the season with play in the IIAC-NACC Challenge continuing tomorrow in Mequon, Wisconsin, with the Stars slated to take on Central College (10 AM) and Buena Vista University (2 PM).