The Dominican University women's volleyball team hosted a tri-match on Sunday at the Igini Sports Forum, picking up a pair of sweeps to improve to 18-6 on the season with a non-conference tilt with the Trine University Thunder on deck for Tuesday at the Igini Sports Forum.
 
In the morning match, the Stars ran their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) record to 6-3 with a 25-20, 25-18, 25-20 win over the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks.  The Stars hit .241 in the winning effort with freshman Ola Magiera knocking down a match-high 14 kills on 28 attack attempts.
 
Anastasia Labadessa and Madi Palmer ran the offense, dishing out 20 and 16 assists apiece while utilizing six different attackers.  Summer Smith tallied seven kills while Keely McCallum, Gabija Sinickaite and Haley Notzen terminated six rallies each.  Olivia Magnussen hit an even .500 in the match, collecting five kills on ten swings without committing an error.
 
Defensively, the Stars slowed the Scarlet Hawks to a .059 hitting percentage, forcing Illinois Tech into 19 errors while allowing just 26 kills.  Sarah Lychock led three in double-digit kills with a match-high 17 digs while Labadessa rounded out a double-double with 11 digs. At the net, Magnussen got in on four blocks with the Stars posting six total blocks at the net.
 
In the nightcap, the Stars hit .260 while slowing the Olivet Comets to a .013 attack percentage. The Stars doubled-up the Comets with 38 kills while allowing just 19 kills and forcing 18 Olivet errors.  Smith led a very balanced Dominican attack with nine kills while Sinickaite, McCallum and Magnussen added eight kills apiece.
 
Labadessa and Palmer shared the setting responsibilities once again, doling out 16 and 15 assists respectively.  Labadessa added a team-high six aces at the serving line as Dominican racked up 13 aces while committing just four serving errors.
 
Defensively, the Stars collected 39 digs. Lychock again led the scrappy defensive play with a match-high 17 digs while Magnussen got in on all three of Dominican's blocks at the net.
 
"This was an awesome day with our team," commented Cameron Andrew, the Stars' head women's volleyball coach. "To come out and win six straight sets was great and something we needed to do. We had some players step up today, especially Madi Palmer. I was very proud of her today.  We now have to shift our focus to Trine on Tuesday and then get ready to finish off conference on a high note over the final three matches of the regular season."