The Dominican University women's volleyball team climbed back above .500 overall at 10-9, scoring a four-set (25-17, 25-11, 22-25, 25-17) win over the Marian University Sabres on Saturday afternoon at the Igini Sports Forum.
 
The Stars came out hot, hitting .338 through the first two sets, collecting 25 kills while committing just five errors.  Freshman setter Anastasia Labadessa knocked down six kills on 11 attacks through the first two sets, in addition to doling out 16 assists.
 
In the third set, the Sabres hit at a .167 clip, knocking down 12 kills while holding the Stars to a .093 attack percentage, collecting 18 digs and posting a pair of blocks to force nine attack errors for Dominican.
 
The Stars started the third set fast, opening a 13-9 lead before Marian used a six-point run, that saw three Dominican errors, to climb in front 15-13.  The Stars stopped the run and eventually climbed back in front, holding a 22-21 advantage before Marian scored the final four points of the set to extend the match to a fourth frame.
 
Two early runs, including an eight-point spurt for the Stars, put the fourth away early.  Dominican managed 12 kills in the clinching set while limiting the Sabres to just seven kills.
 
"It was a great start and a great finish this afternoon," said first-year head coach Brittany Sisk, following her team's victory. "We will continue to work on getting better at the in-between, finding a more consistent level of play."
 
"With such a young team and still so much left in the season," continued Sisk, "our priority is to keep getting better every day. This weekend is proof that we are headed in the right direction."
 
For the Stars, Alex Kisten connected on a match-high 13 kills on 33 swings, committing just three errors. The senior collected four kills in each of the first and fourth sets.  Classmate Kendyl Todd added 11 kills of her own while Elin Ream finished with nine kills.
 
At the serving line, Dominican nailed down 13 aces, including four apiece from Megan Parker and Labadessa.
 
Defensively, Dominican collected 62 digs, paced by 18 for Parker and 13 for Gillian Jones.  Labadessa added 11 digs for her tenth double-double of the season.
 
The Stars, now 4-2 in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) action, will take a break from league play on Tuesday, venturing to Illinois Tech to take on the Scarlet Hawks. Dominican then returns to conference play next weekend, hosting the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons on Friday before the MSOE Raiders visit Dominican next Saturday.