The Dominican University women's volleyball team opened the 2017 season, the first under head coach Brittany Sisk, with a pair of AVCA Division III Women's Top 25 opponents, knocking off #20 Hendrix College in three sets (25-16, 25-21, 25-17) in the season opener before falling to the #15 Hope College Flying Dutch in four sets (26-28, 25-16, 25-17, 26-24) to close out day one for the Stars at the 2017 Bear Invite hosted by Washington University-St. Louis.
 
"The leadership we had on the court and the sideline tonight was remarkable," commented Sisk. "I could not be more proud of how our team opened up this season…they played fearless in the face of some incredibly tough competition."
 
Senior Kendyl Todd powered the Dominican offensive attack in the opener against Hendrix, knocking down 13 kills on 30 attacks without committing an error for a .433 hitting percentage.  The rest of the Stars' attack produced 17 kills on 64 attempts as the Stars hit .149 as a team.
 
Dominican added seven points at the serving line, paced by freshman Summer Smith who served three aces while Todd and Lauren LaVigne added a pair of aces apiece.
 
Freshman setter Anastasia Labadessa collected 26 assists in her first collegiate action and added seven digs and two kills in an all-around effort.
 
In the back row, Megan Parker led the defensive effort with 15 digs while Smith added nine as Dominican held the Warriors to a -.052 attack percentage, forcing 25 errors, including five total blocks.
 
In the loss to Hope, the Flying Dutch managed to hold Todd to eight kills, forcing the senior to commit four errors, but classmate Alex Kisten picked up the slack, knocking down ten kills on 25 attempts without an error.  Elin Ream and Gillian Jones added six kills apiece but it was the Hope offense that outhit the Stars, .177 to .060, while knocking down 56 kills to the Stars' 38.
 
Dominican is back at it tomorrow, returning to the Bear Invite to take on Rose-Hulman and Cornell College before returning to River Forest for the Stars' 2017 home opener in the Igini Sports Forum on Tuesday night.