ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst volleyball team dropped both of its contest at the Elmhurst triangular. The Bluejays dropped a five-set heartbreaker to Dominican University to start the day before falling 3-1 to 13th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the finale.
 
DOMINICAN 3, ELMHURST 2 – Elmhurst could not close out Dominican, falling to the Stars 25-19, 14-25, 25-21, 27-29, 15-17. Elmhurst had five match points, including three straight in the fifth set, but could not put away the Stars.
 
Elmhurst raced out to a quick lead after taking the opening set 25-19. Dominican pulled even with a 25-14 win in the second, but the Bluejays surged back in the third. Trailing 18-15 the Bluejays closed the set on a 10-3 run to open up a two sets to one lead.
 
Dominican built a 19-13 lead to start the fourth and the Stars led 22-16, but Elmhurst rattled off six straight points to pull even at 22-22. The Bluejays fought off a set point at 24-23 and held match points at 25-24 and 26-25, but Dominican won the final three points of the set to pull even at 2-2.
 
Elmhurst built a 12-9 lead in the fifth set and extended its cushion to 14-11. The Stars rattled off four straight points to pull in front at 15-14. Elmhurst fought off one match point at 14-15, but the Stars won the final two points to take the set and the match.
 
Elmhurst hit .136 for the match with 53 kills an 28 errors in 184 swings. Bailey Brouwer led Elmhurst in the loss with 19 kills and 12 digs. Kayla Mast added 17 kills and 15 digs while Payton Froats finished with eight kills. Emily Duis totaled five kills and seven blocks while Taylor Zurliene led the team in digs with 25. Hannah Horn finished with 47 assists and 13 digs while Emily Finkbeiner tallied 11 digs.
 
Gabija Sinickaite led the Stars with 19 kills while Summer Smith and Keely McCallum tallied 11 kills apiece. Gillian Jones finished with nine kills and 19 digs for the Stars.
 
UW-WHITEWATER 3, ELMHURST 1 – Elmhurst fell 25-20, 15-25, 22-25, 17-25 to #13 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
 
Elmhurst led from wire-to-wire in the opening set, putting the set away at 25-20. Whitewater roared back in the second as the Warhawks never trailed en route to a 25-15 win.
 
Elmhurst led 18-16 in the third set but Whitewater used a 5-0 run to open up a 21-18 cushion before putting away the set at 25-22. The score was even at 8-8 early in the fourth set, but Whitewater used an 11-2 run to open up a 19-10 lead before closing out the match.
 
Elmhurst hit .088 for the match with 43 kills and 28 errors. Whitewater finished the match hitting .209 with 57 kills and 20 errors. Mast powered Elmhurst in the loss with 15 kills and 20 digs. Brouwer finished with nine kills and 13 digs while Duis finished with eight kills and three blocks. Horn finished with 35 assists while Finkbeiner led the team in digs with 20.
 
Emma Aske led the Warhawks with 17 kills and 11 digs. Chloe Buescher finished 1ith 11 kills and 10 digs while Ashton Doll finished with 10 kills.
 
Elmhurst fell to 6-11 overall with the two losses. The Bluejays host Augustana College on Tuesday, October 1.