The Dominican University women's volleyball team, coming off a 1-1 showing against a pair of AVCA Preseason Women's Division III Top 25 opponents on Friday night, dropped a pair of matches on day two of the Bear Invite hosted by Washington University, falling to the Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers in three sets (27-25, 26-24, 25-16) before taking the Cornell College rams to five sets (20-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-19, 15-9).
 
Following the tournament, freshman setter Anastasia Labadessa was named to the all-tournament team, averaging 6.4 assists per set and 3.73 digs per set to lead the Stars on the weekend.
 
"We came out with the same fight and intensity that we had yesterday," said head coach Brittany Sisk, "but just let both teams go on a few too many runs without stopping them.  The second match against Cornell was the best volleyball we saw and played this weekend.  We were down in the third set and managed to stay composed and fight back in the third set."
 
In the morning match against Rose-Hulman, the Stars pushed the first and second sets beyond 25 points, hitting .302 in the first set with a balanced attack while sophomore Elin Ream knocked down six kills in the second set while Dominican managed to hit at a .213 clip.  In the third set, the Fightin' Engineer offense came alive, hitting .290 behind eight kills from Adekite Oladipupo.
 
Ream paced the Stars for the match, knocking down ten kills while Kendyl Todd added nine kills and Gillian Jones tallied eight.  Labadessa finished the match with the first of two double-doubles for the day with 28 assists and 19 digs.
 
In the loss to Cornell, Labadessa notched her third double-double in four matches, collecting 17 assists and 15 digs while the Stars had their fourth leader in kills in four matches with Jones and Amanda Ricca collecting ten kills apiece.
 
The Stars, now 1-3 on the season, return to River Forest for their home opener on Tuesday evening, hosting the St. Norbert College Green Knights before another weekend of top competition next Saturday when the Stars travel to University of Chicago to take on the Maroons and Carthage College Lady Reds.
 
"We saw so many great, positive things we can continue to build on this weekend," commented Sisk. "We are excited to get back to work and prepare to be an even better team next week."