Milwaukee, Wis. – The Dominican University Women's Volleyball team was set for day two of the MSOE Raider Invite after falling in both matches on Friday night.
Match One Results:
Dominican: 0
Marian: 3
How It Happened:
-Sophomore
Karolina Stonkus got Dominican on the board with a kill for the Stars' first point of the set. The Sabres instantly drew out to a 5-1 lead after that.
-DU got the deficit to just 4 points, with Sophomore
Olivia Pollak earning a kill. Once again, though, Marian went on a run to get their lead to 13-4.
-Dominican continued to try and fight back in the first set with three straight points, Senior Katie Ksiezak earned a kill and Junior
Fabiana Pizzo collected a service ace.
-Marian would pull out a 25-13 set one win.
-Dominican got two quick kills in the second set, with Ksiezak picking up a kill and Senior
Jaylynn Miller also earning a kill, but this ignited a 7-0 Sabre run, making the score 9-3.
-Marian held strong with a six-point lead for the majority of the set until they pulled a head in the latter stages of the set to win 25-15.
-The third set was back and forth, with the score being 11-11 and Stonkus and Miller each picking up kills in the early section of set three.
-Marian found that extra gear though and pulled off 4 straight points to take a 15-11 in the middle part of the set.
-The Sabres rode the momentum to the end, winning 25-16 in the final set of the match.
Shining Stars:
-Senior
Kathryn Ksiezak collected 4 kills in the match, which led the team. Ksiezak also collected 2 blocks, with one of them being a solo block.
-Freshman
Mawedda Abu-Shukhaidem picked up 8 assists and 6 digs in the match.
-Sophomore
Taylor Lupton earned 6 digs.
-Sophomore
Olivia Pollak collected 5 digs.
Leading the Way:
Kills: Ksiezak (4)
Aces: Cuellar (2)
Blocks: Ksiezak (2)
Assists: Abu-Shukhaidem (8)
Digs: Lupton and Abu-Shukhaidem (6)
Match Two Results:
Dominican: 1
Knox: 3
How it Happened:
-Knox started off the match with 5 straight points. Senior Katie Ksiezak got the first kill of the match for DU. This ignited a Prairie Fire 5-0 run again to make the score 11-3.
-Dominican fought in the first set with Sophomore
Olivia Pollak, Senior
Jaylynn Miller earning kills, and Freshman
Valeria Garcia earning an ace.
-The Stars gained some momentum with Ksiezak, Pollak, and Senior
Jillian Ross all earning kills, but DU fell 25-17 in the first set.
-After Knox pulled out to a 5-2 lead in the second set, Dominican found a 5-0 run of their own with Miller collecting two kills, Pollak earning an ace, and Sophomore
Karolina Stonkus grabbing a kill. The Stars took a 7-5 lead after the run.
-DU continued to play with a lead in the middle of the second set, with Miller earning a kill and Freshman
Angela Cuellar earning a service ace.
-The Prairie Fire exploded through with a 6-0 run to make the score 20-16 in favor of Knox.
-Stonkus tried to keep Dominican in the set with back-to-back kills, but Knox won the set 25-19.
-After exploding late in the second set, the Prairie Fire started with a 4-0 lead in the third set. The Stars responded, though, with Freshman
Valeria Garcia picking up 2 kills and Stonkus adding two aces.
-Dominican and Knox continued to trade points with Garcia picking up kills left and right for the Stars when they needed it most.
-DU faced a 17-15 deficit until Stonkus picked up two kills, Pollak earned an ace, and Ksiezak adding a kill to regain the lead.
-The Stars scored the last 6 of 7 points, and Stonkus had 3 ills during these last 6 points. Senior
Lily Broderick earned an ace, as did Senior
Cassandra Thawley.
-Stonkus got Dominican off on the right foot in the fourth set with back-to-back service aces to open the set.
-After the 2-0 lead by DU, Dominican and Knox traded points for the majority of the set. Stonkus earned 3 kills in the set, and Miller and Garcia each picked up 2 kills in the set.
-The Stars were unable to push for the 5
th set and fell 25-21.
Shining Stars:
-Sophomore
Karolina Stonkus led the way for Dominican with 12 kills, 10 assists, 4 aces, and 5 digs in the match.
-Freshman
Valeria Garcia collected 7 kills and 13 digs.
-Senior Katie Ksiezak added 6 kills in the match.
-Senior
Jaylynn Miller picked up 6 kills.
-Sophomore
Olivia Pollak made a difference on the offensive end and defensive end. Pollak led the team in assists with 17 and digs with 18.
-Senior
Cassandra Thawley earned 10 digs.
Leading the Way:
Kills: Stonkus (12)
Aces: Stonkus (4)
Blocks: Stonkus (1)
Assists: Pollak (17)
Digs: Pollak (18)
What's Next:
Dominican University Women's Volleyball falls to 0-6 on the season. The Stars will be back in action next weekend as they will participate in the Millikin Invite. DUWVB will play three matches in Decatur, with the first match being on September 18
th at 7:00 p.m. against Franklin College.
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