OAKDALE, N.Y. – Junior setter Alex Tator (Los Angeles, Calif.) turned in a pair of solid efforts as the Bentley University women's volleyball team opened the 2013 season with two wins in the Dowling College Invitational Friday afternoon at the Dowling Gymnasium.

Tator amassed 35 assists, 12 digs, two aces, two kills and two blocks in a five-set victory over Molloy, with seven of the assists coming in the decisive final set. She followed that with 30 assists, seven digs, three kills and three aces in a 3-0 win over the host team, an NCAA tournament team a year ago.

Tator's setting helped three Bentley players record double digits in kills. Freshman Lauren Van Buren (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa HS) and junior Savannah Dominguez (Miami, Fla./Palmer Trinity HS) had 11 and 10, respectively, against Molloy, and junior Tatiana Froehlich (Newton/Newton North HS) led Bentley with 11 against Dowling.

In the Molloy match, Bentley took the odd-numbered sets while the second and fourth went to the Lions (27-29, 21-25). The Falcons took the first 25-20 and the third 25-18 before dominating the fifth, 15-7.

In that fifth set, a run of five straight points, most coming with Dominguez serving, opened a 10-3 lead and Bentley put it away with three straight kills to end the match. Junior Simone Silvera (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) had the first two and sophomore Jaci Buschner (Lakewood, Colo./ Green Mountain HS) had the final one.

In addition to the combined 21 kills from Van Buren and Dominguez, Silvera followed with nine. Dominguez hit a team-best .304 and had a hand in six of the team's 11 blocks. Junior libero Lauren Colasanti (Northville, Mich./Northville HS) finished with 19 digs, with Van Buren (16) and Froehlich (14) right behind her in that category.

There were only two lead changes during the Dowling match with Bentley prevailing 25-22, 25-17 and 25-18 for its first win over the Golden Lions since 2002. The Falcons finished the opening set with a 9-6 run after the two were even at 16. They never trailed in the second after taking the first three points, and closed out the match with five unanswered points, again with Dominguez on the serve.

Following Froehlich in kills were Buscher and Silvera, each with seven. Dominguez served three of Bentley's nine aces and Colasanti recorded 11 digs.

Jessica Kalbfleisch hit .600 with 12 kills for Dowling (1-1), but the rest of her teammates hit only .024.

Bentley will complete play in the tournament with a 9 am match against Nyack College Saturday morning.