Eureka Falls at Dominican, 3-0

RIVER FOREST, Ill. – The Eureka volleyball team fell against Dominican in three sets on the road on Tuesday.

The Red Devils came close to tying the match at one set apiece, but the Stars got the edge and went on to win the match, 25-15, 26-24, 25-10 at the Igini Sports Forum.

Eureka's Payton Florine (Galesburg, Ill./Abingdon-Avon) notched a team-high eight kills on 24 swings. Madison Richards (Princeton, Ill/Princeton) added four kills and Hallee Gauna (Arcola, Ill./Arcola/Lincoln Trail) had three.

Setter Sara Hart (Secor, Ill./Eureka) posted a team-high nine assists, while libero Brooklyn Shell (Evansville, Ind./Mount Vernon) came up with a team-high nine digs. Florine and Alexis Charlton (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) each contributed six digs.

Dominican's Cassidy Spies tallied a match-high 13 kills on 26 attacks and recorded a hitting percentage of .462. Setter Olivia Mendell distributed 22 assists, and Charlotte Hain (11) and Spies (10) both reached double digits in digs.  

In the second set, the Red Devils rode a 6-0 run to a 16-10 lead, but the Stars stayed in it and chipped away until they tied it up at 22-22. A kill by Florine put the visitors two points away from leveling the score of the match.

However, a Dominican kill and an EC attack error made it set point for the home team. Eureka fended it off with another kill by Florine to send it to extra points. Then, the set ended with a kill and another EC hitting error. Dominican got to a good start in the third set and cruised from there.

Eureka (0-2) will return to Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena next Wednesday for a non-conference matchup against Beloit (0-4) at 7 p.m.