At the Dominican University Athletics Awards Night, the department of athletics celebrated the Dominican University basketball team's win over Aurora University in the opening round of the 2019 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament with both the department's Team Performance of the Year honor and Individual Performance of the Year award for Nyema Burns.
 
In a 55-35 win over the Spartans in Dominican's first women's basketball conference tournament appearance since 2012, Burns posted the first triple-double in the history of the NACC Women's Basketball Tournament, logging 11 points, 18 rebounds and ten blocks.  The 6'1 Burns posted career highs in points, rebounds, blocks and minutes while going 5-for-14 from the field in 37 minutes of floor time.
 
In picking up the win, the Stars turned a two-point halftime lead into a 20-point win to advance to the NACC Tournament semifinals.  The Stars smothered the Spartans in the second half, limiting Aurora to just six second half field goals, including just one field goal over the game's final ten minutes.  On the offensive end, the Stars converted on 11 of 15 attempts from the foul line to put the game away.
 
For the awards, Burns topped a ballot that featured women's volleyball's Gabija Sinickaite, women's soccer's Holli Cochran, men's soccer's Isaac Perez and men's volleyball's Ethan Klosak while the women's basketball performance edged women's soccer (vs. Illinois Tech), men's soccer (vs. MSOE) and men's volleyball (vs. North Central) for the 2019 honor.
 
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Gabija Sinickaite vs. Augustana College—The 2018 NACC Freshman of the Year, Sinickaite had a monster night at the Igini Sports Forum back on September 19, knocking down a match-high 20 kills on 39 attacks while committing just one error.  The Naperville native added a pair of solo blocks and three block assists for a total of 23.5 points in the winning effort.
 
Holli Cochran vs. Illinois Tech—In the Stars' regular season finale with the 2018 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season championship on the line, freshman Holli Cochran came out and dominated the Scarlet Hawks, scoring a pair of first half goals en route to a 3-0 win for the Stars.  Cochran's first tally came just eight minutes into the match and proved to be the game-winner. The West Jordan, Utah, native then put home another strike just nine minutes later to give the Stars the early lead.
 
Isaac Perez vs. Gustavus Adolphus—In the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer national tournament, Perez took over.  After Dominican and the Gustavus Adolphus Gusties played to a scoreless first half, Perez opened the game's scoring, netting what proved to be the game-winner in the 53^rd minute of play.  Just seven minutes later it was Perez setting up teammate Jonathan Hernandez for an insurance goal that seemingly put the game on ice for the Stars.
 
Ethan Klosak vs. Benedictine University—Taking on the fifth-ranked team in the country, All-American Ethan Klosak took over when the Stars needed him most, knocking down four kills and adding three aces in the deciding set as Dominican knocked off the Eagles in five sets. For the night, Klosak finished with a season-high 20 kills on 32 swings, finishing the night with a .531 attack percentage with 11 digs and three aces to round out the effort.
 
TEAM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Women's Soccer vs. Illinois Tech—In the regular season finale with the program's first regular season conference championship on the line, the Dominican University women's soccer team dominated the second-place Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks, taking the conference championship with a 3-nil win. A pair of quick goals took any upset hopes away from the Scarlet Hawks while a smothering attack barely allowed the hosts to exit their defensive third.
 
Men's Soccer vs. MSOE—Back in the NACC Tournament Championship match for the 12^th time in 13 seasons, the Stars punched their ticket back to the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship with a dominating 4-1 win over the host MSOE Raiders in Milwaukee.  The Stars outshot the Raiders 22-7 and doubled in shots on goal, 10-5. After opening a 2-0 lead at the half, Dominican limited the Raiders to just three shots in the second half and only two on frame.
 
Men's Volleyball vs. North Central—On an emotional day for the Dominican University men's volleyball team, the Stars swept the then seventh-ranked North Central College Cardinals on the road in Naperville.  The Stars offense knocked down 42 kills while hitting .337 for the match while Dominican's defense stalled the Cardinals' attack, limiting North Central to a .113 attack percentage which included a negative hitting percentage in the third set.  The Dominican front row was force to be reckon with, posting seven blocks in the match.