The Dominican University women's volleyball team scored a come-from-behind victory on Friday night at the Igini Sports Forum, topping the Elmhurst College Bluejays in five sets (20-25, 25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 15-9). The Stars trailed 1-0 after the first set, 2-1 after the third and then trailed 4-1 in the deciding fifth set before stunning the Bluejays, scoring the final six points of the match.
"I think that was the definition of a team win," said Cameron Andrew, the Stars' head women's volleyball coach. "We had a number of people step up when we needed some help.
Gillian Jones stepped up…
Elin Ream stepped up…and
Summer Smith stepped up when called upon in the fifth set. I'm not sure we get this win two weeks ago. It is great to see us improving and pull out a hard fought win at home."
The Stars, behind sophomore setter
Anastasia Labadessa, hit .165 in the winning effort. Dominican was especially solid in the second and fifth sets, hitting .273 and .259 respectively, including picking up nine kills in the fifth on 27 attempts.
Amanda Ricca paced the attack with 15 kills. After managing just three kills through the first two sets, Ricca went for five kills in the third set, four in the fourth and knocked down three straight at one point in the fifth set, evening the set at 5-5 before injury forced her from the match.
Stephanie Cole added 14 kills on 31 attempts while Jones managed 12 kills. Labadessa doled out 46 assists on the team's 61 kills.
Defensively, the Stars slowed the Elmhurst attack to a .125 hitting percentage forcing a total of 23 errors while collecting 93 digs and posting five total blocks.
Megan Parker led the back row effort with a team-high 20 digs while Jones and Labadessa rounded out double-doubles with 19 and 17 digs respectively.
Sarah Lychock added 13 digs while
Lauren LaVigne picked up 11 of her own.
The Stars, now 6-5 on the year, return to action on Saturday, traveling to Lake Forest College to meet the Foresters in a non-conference tilt. The match is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start.
"I'm looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow afternoon at Lake Forest," added Andrew.
