The Dominican University women's volleyball team won a pair of matches on the first day of a tournament at University of Northwestern in St. Paul, Minnesota, Friday night, topping the Loras College Duhawks and host Northwestern Eagles both in three sets.
 
Dominican overpowered the Duhawks in the Stars' tournament opener, taking the match 25-17, 25-22, 25-15.  Carri Chambers (Winnebago, Ill.) paced the offense, terminating a match-high ten rallies on 31 attacks while committing just two errors. 
 
"We started a bit slow again and had quite a few unforced errors but once we started playing at our tempo, we found a way to finish," said Jeanne Czipri, the Stars' head coach and 2014 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Co-Coach of the Year, when asked about her team's effort against Loras.
 
Christina Wilson (Homer Glen, Ill.), as she has become accustomed to, spread the offense around, using all of her weapons including her middles Tessa Griparis (Belleair, Fla.) and Kendyl Todd (Crete, Ill.) who had eight and seven kills respectively while right-side Maddi Zanoni (Hudsonville, Mich.) posted eight kills of her own.
 
As a team, the Stars hit .273 while Dominican's defense, paced by 13 digs apiece for Caitlen Foote (Dexter, Mich.) and Olivia Szuszkiewicz (Barrington, Ill.), held the Duhawks to just a .078 attack percentage.
 
Dominican then rode the momentum from the win into the match against University of Northwester, disposing of the Eagles who had received votes for the AVCA Preseason Division III Top 25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-15.
 
"It was really great to see all the hard work we've been putting in our blocking pay off," said Czipri. "That was huge difference maker in the match and we did a really great job funneling the ball defensively which set things up better for us offensively.  The girls had a lot of energy—That was a big win for us."
 
Chambers continued to swing the heavy hand for the Stars, knocking down 13 kills on 31 attacks while hitting .355.  Alex Kisten (Huntley, Ill.) added nine kills while Todd totaled 13.0 points with nine kills, two solo blocks, and four block assists.
 
Wilson posted her second double-double in four matches with 37 assists to go along with 19 digs.
 
Dominican, now 3-1 on the 2015 season, returns to action in St. Paul on Saturday, taking on the College of St. Scholastica Saints at 11:00 a.m. before closing out the tournament with preseason #20, the Augusburg College Auggies at 1:00 p.m.