Columbia, MO – Stephens College volleyball battled through five sets Wednesday night to earn a 3-2 victory over Haskell Indian Nations University inside Silverthorne Arena. The Stars took the first and third sets before dominating the deciding fifth set to secure the win and improve to 1-3 on the season.
Stephens opened the match with a 25-21 victory in the first set before Haskell responded with a 25-18 win in the second. The Stars regained control in the third, taking the set 25-17, but Haskell answered once again with a 25-18 fourth-set victory to force a deciding fifth set.
With the match on the line, Stephens put together its strongest offensive set of the night. The Stars recorded six kills with just one error on 11 attempts for a .455 hitting percentage and cruised to a 15-4 victory to close out the match.
Michalina Oles led the Stephens offense with 12 kills and added four service aces, while Jocelyn Rios followed with 11 kills. Anna Bradley added nine kills, and Audrey Dinwiddie finished with six kills while directing the offense with 39 assists. Dinwiddie also hit a team-best .308.
Defensively, Alanis Francelino led the Stars with 36 digs and also recorded five service aces. Danika Brase added 14 digs, while Dinwiddie collected 13. Stephens finished the night with 103 digs as a team and totaled 12 service aces.
The Stars finished with 47 kills on the night and saved their best offensive performance for the final set to secure the five-set home victory.
The Stars will now head to McPherson, Kansas, this weekend for tournament play on Friday and Saturday.
