The Dominican University women's volleyball team extended its winning streak to five on Wednesday night, outlasting the visiting Augustana College Vikings in five sets (26-24, 24-26, 25-23, 17-25, 17-15) to improve to 9-5 on the season.  Freshman Gabija Sinickaite led the way for the Stars, knocking down 20 kills on just 39 swings while hitting at a .487 clip.
 
"I think this is the most proud of this team I have been this year," said Cameron Andrew, the Stars' first-year head coach, "and that says a lot. We are dealing with a bunch of injuries right now and to fight through that adversity and grind out a win against a very good Augustana team is awesome."
 
Taking the first, third and fifth sets, the Stars hit a combined .288 in their winning sets while managing just an .074 attack percentage with a combined 14 errors in the second and fourth sets.
 
"We have to continue to work on our consistency," continued Andrew. "All you have to do is take a look at the hitting percentages to know which sets we won. A focal point of ours this year has been to get off the rollercoaster and we struggled with that a bit tonight. Once we find that consistency, we will be in a great spot."
 
Anastasia Labadessa and Madi Palmer shared setting responsibilities with Labadessa dishing out 29 assists and Palmer adding 19 as the Stars hit .191 on the night with 57 kills on 178 attacks with 23 errors.  Elin Ream knocked down 13 kills while hitting .273 including four kills on five swings in the deciding fifth set.  Summer Smith finished the night with 12 kills and was one of three Stars to post a double-double with 16 digs.
 
Defensively, Megan Parker led the way with a match-high 23 digs while Gillian Jones finished with 15 digs and Palmer and Labadessa rounded out their double-doubles with 13 and 11 digs respectively.  At the net, Sinickaite posted five total blocks and Haley Notzen and Olivia Magnussen added four total blocks each as Dominican finished with 11 blocks on the night.
 
The Stars will enjoy an eight-day break from match action, returning to the Igini Sports Forum on Friday, September 28^th when the Edgewood College Eagles come to River Forest for a 7:00 p.m. Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference tilt.
 
"We are looking forward to some down time where we can get everyone fresh and recovered, and ready for Edgewood," commented Andrew.