Box Score

RIVER FOREST, Ill. –  Dominican fought off a spirited Augustana rally in the fifth set Wednesday to defeat the Vikings at the Igini Sports Forum. Coach Kelly Bethke's club, which lost to the Stars in straight sets on September 1, rallied from an 8-3 deficit in the final game, but ultimately fell 17-15. Augustana dropped to 7-6 on the season, while Dominican improved to 9-5.
 
The Vikings squandered a big lead in set one. A Star attack error gave Augustana a 19-13 advantage, but Dominican answered by winning five straight points. The hosts finally pulled even at 21-all on a Gillian Jones block and took the lead on another by Haley Notzen. The Vikings tied it at 23 and 24-all, but a Gabija Sinickaite kill and a Jones ace closed out the set 26-24 in favor of the Stars.
 
The guests came back to win game two by the same score. Dominican led 19-15 after Sinickaite block and after Augustana tied it at 20, went back ahead 22-20. However, an Emily Uglem (Moorhead HS, Moorhead, Minn.) kill sparked a 6-2 closing run by the Vikings. Kills by Grace Bialobok (Homewood-Flossmoor HS, Homewood, Ill.) and Madi Glatz (Morton HS, Morton, Ill.) finished off the set.
 
Kills by freshman Sierra Erke (Quincy HS, Quincy, Ill.) and Bialobok—both off assists by freshman Olivia Doak (Crystal Lake Central HS, Crystal Lake, Ill.)—gave Augustana its only leads of the third set at 1-0 and 20-19, respectively. The Stars answered Bialobok's kill by winning three straight points, though, and a Sinickaite kill eventually wrapped up a 25-23 Dominican win.
 
After trailing 17-12 in the fourth game, the Stars pulled to within 17-16 on Summer Smith's kill. However, the Vikings finished the game with an 8-1 spurt, winning 25-17 on a back-row kill by junior Brooke Harmon (Lindbergh HS, St. Louis, Mo.).
 
Another Smith kill gave the hosts an 8-3 lead at the switch in set five, but Glatz set junior Courtney Ward (Crystal Lake Central HS, Lakewood, Ill.) for a kill that jumpstarted a 7-2 Augustana run that tied it at 10-10. There were deadlocks at 11, 13, 14 and 15 as well, before a Ream kill and a block by Notzen and Sinickaite ended the match.
 
VanEarwage and Erke each had a dozen kills for Bethke's bunch and Bialobok added 11.  Doak dished out 27 assists and senior McKenzie Zambrano (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) 21. Doak, VanEarwage and Glatz, who was filling in for usual libero Jessica Nguyen (Kaneland HS, Elburn, Ill.), each contributed 13 digs. Bialobok added a team-high five blocks and sophomore Savana Sparks (Maroa-Forsyth HS, Maroa, Ill.) recorded a pair of aces.
 
On Saturday, September 22, the Vikings will take on Grinnell (10:00 a.m.) and Nebraska Wesleyan (noon) at the Cornell Classic in Mount Vernon, Iowa.