The Dominican University women's volleyball team took part in the 2016 Gargoyle Classic hosted by the University of Chicago on Saturday, dropping a pair of matches to fall to 0-3 on the season.
 
In the morning match, the Stars fell in three sets (25-21, 25-16, 25-21) to the Millikin University Big Blue before being upended in five sets (20-25, 18-25, 25-14, 25-23, 15-11) by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds.
 
"In three matches this year, we have definitely seen a lot of things that are working for us and things that are not working," said Jeanne Czipri, the Stars' head coach after the matches. "We are still finding the best lineup and what roles each player is going to take as the year progresses."
 
"We played a very good Millikin team that exploited some of our weaknesses.  While that is not fun in the moment and in the match, it is going to be useful to see where we need improvement this early in the season. We then recovered and played some good volleyball against Eau Claire.  Our girls came out strong and served tough which put our block in a position for success."
 
In the loss to Millikin, the Stars hit .176 for the match behind sophomore setter Jackie Mursuli who totaled 24 assists.  Freshman Stephanie Cole powered the attack with a team-high seven kills in her first collegiate action.  Rosalyn Wyse and Erica Freudinger collected six kills apiece with Freudinger adding six total blocks (2 BS, 4 BA) in the all-around effort.
 
In the back row, senior libero Audrey Wyse had a team-high 14 digs while the Big Blue hit at a .316 clip despite the Stars' eight total blocks.
 
After a short rest, the Stars opened the matinee match strong, taking the first two sets from the Blugolds while hitting .278 and .333 in the first and second sets respectively.  After the third set was all Eau Claire, the Blugolds were able to win the fourth and fifth sets in see-saw action.
 
Kendyl Todd knocked down a season-high ten kills to pace the attack for Dominican.  The junior hit an even .400 with just two errors on 20 attempts.  Becky Dent and Rosalyn Wyse tallied eight kills apiece while Alex Kisten and Cole added seven in a very balanced Dominican attack.
 
Defensively, Dominican posted nine blocks led by Todd's five block assists while the back row saw three reach double-digit digs with Rosalyn Wyse leading the way with 24 while Audrey Wyse collected 16 and Elin Ream added ten.
 
The schedule does not get any easier for the Stars who travel to Whitewater, Wisconsin, on Wednesday for a tri-match featuring the UW-Whitewater Warhawks and Elmhurst College Bluejays.