The Dominican University women's volleyball team advanced to the semifinal round of the 2018 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament with a three-set (25-20, 25-17, 25-23) win over the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors on Tuesday night at the Igini Sports Forum.  The win pushes the Stars to 20-9 on the season, marking Dominican's first 20-win season since going 25-10 and winning the NACC Tournament in 2015.
 
"It wasn't always the prettiest volleyball, but we found a way to grind through and advance to the semis," said Cameron Andrew, the Stars' first-year head coach following the win. "We wanted to control the serve and pass game and I feel we did a good job of that tonight. That allowed our offense to get into a rhythm as the match went on."
 
After committing six errors to fall behind 10-2 in the opening set, Dominican's Stephanie Cole knocked down the team's first kill and it sparked a four-point run for the Stars as they clawed their way back into the set.  Dominican continued to chip into the lead, eventually evening the frame at 16-16 on back-to-back Warriors' errors.  After a quick Wisconsin Lutheran sideout, the Stars pulled ahead 18-17 when Gillian Jones knocked down one of her four kills in the opening set.  After another quick sideout for the Warriors, Dominican strung together six points to open a commanding 24-18 lead to put the set away.
 
The Stars' offense managed to hit just .000 with nine kills to nine errors in the opening frame but posted four blocks on the defensive side of the net to force 12 Warriors' attack errors and limit WLC to a -.116 attack percentage.
 
The second set saw the Warriors use an early four-point swing to open a 9-7 lead before the Stars rattled off 11 of the next 13 points to pull back in front and open a 16-11 lead they would not relinquish.  Freshman Gabija Sinickaite put the offense on her back in the second set, knocking down five of her match-high 11 kills in the frame.  Sinickaite also combined with Cole for a pair of block assists for a total of six points in the set.
 
The third set saw the Warriors and Stars trade points up to 9-9 before a Jones kill sparked a four-point spurt for Dominican, opening a 13-9 lead the Stars would not relinquish.
 
"I am really proud of the team's ability to dig out of the early hole in the first set and then play consistently the rest of the night," continued Andrew. "I'm looking forward to returning to the NACC semis and meeting up with CUW again. We played a really competitive match at their place earlier this season."
 
The Stars, behind 26 assists from Anastasia Labadessa, finished the night with a .115 hitting percentage. Sinickaite led the way with 11 kills while Cole and seven and Jones finished with six.
 
Defensively, Megan Parker finished with a match-high 19 digs while Sarah Lychock added 11 in the winning effort.
 
Dominican will hit the road on Thursday, traveling up to Mequon, Wisconsin, to meet the second-seed Concordia Wisconsin Falcons.  The match is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start with the winner advancing to the NACC Tournament championship match on Saturday with the league's bid to the national tournament on the line.