Box Score The Dominican University men's volleyball team powered past the Cairn University Highlanders in four sets (23-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-14) to open play in the 2014 Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) Crossover in Cincinnati, Ohio.

After a back-and-forth opening set that saw 17 ties and six lead changes, the young Stars settled in behind five kills on just six swings in the second set for Charlie Spry (Barrington, Ill.). The Stars posted a 69-percent sideout percentage in the second set, posting four total blocks in the set.

The third set teetered back and forth all the way until Alex Coyne (Naperville, Ill.) stepped back to serve with the Stars trailing 10-9. Three Highlander errors put the Stars on top 12-10 and the Stars sprinted to the finish as three service aces by Trevor Slonek (West Chicago, Ill.) 19-12, setting the table for Dominican's win in the fourth set.

In the fourth set, Dominican posted a 93-percent sideout percentage, going 14-for-15 on sideout opportunities. Spry continued to carry the hot hand for Dominican, knocking down a team-best five kills in the clinching set.

Spry finished with a match-high 19 kills on 35 swings, committing just one hitting error for a .514 attack percentage. Zachery Sinn (Winfield, Ill.) added nine kills while Coyne dished out 38 assists.

Defensively, Robert Mead (Darien, Ill.) and Brooks Nevrly (Downers Grove, Ill.) shared team-high honors with eight digs apiece as the Stars racked up 26 digs and logged 14.5 blocks, led by Mason Solbrig's (Lake Villa, Ill.) six total blocks.

Dominican, now 3-4 on the season, will return to tournament action later in the day, taking on Marymount University at 6:30 p.m.