Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Dominican University men's volleyball team was back in action in New York on Sunday afternoon, sweeping through the Vassar College Brewers 25-18, 25-9, 25-17 before falling in three sets to the top-ranked SUNY New Paltz Hawks, 25-23, 25-20, 25-18.
 
The split pushes the first-year Stars to 7-7 overall.  After an off-day on Monday, Dominican closes out its New York swing on Tuesday with matches against Stevens Institute of Technology and New York University at Stevens in Hoboken, N.J.
 
Dominican 3, Vassar 0
 
In the Stars' first match of the day, Dominican got ten kills from Charlie Spry (Barrington, Ill.) and seven kills apiece from Nicholas Costa (Oak Lawn, Ill.) and Zachery Sinn (Winfield, Ill.) as Alex Coyne (Naperville, Ill.) ran the offense to perfection, dishing out 29 assists.
 
As a team, the Stars posted a .288 hitting percentage with 37 kills on 80 attempts while committing just 14 errors.  On the opposite side of the net, the Stars held the Brewers to -.043 attack percentage with 22 kills to 26 errors on 93 swings.  Dominican tallied 12 blocks led by Sinn and Aidan Spangler (Western Springs, Ill.) who logged six total blocks apiece.  Spangler had one solo and five assists while Sinn had six block assists.
 
In the Stars' back row, Dominican collected 36 digs, led by Spry, Costa, Brooks Nevrly (Downers Grove, Ill.) and Robert Mead (Darien, Ill.) who had six digs apiece.
 
#1 SUNY New Paltz 3, Dominican 0
 
Primed for an offensive slugfest after Dominican displayed a powerful attack in its match against Vassar, New Paltz overcame a strong Stars' front row with a .318 hitting percentage. The Stars, meanwhile, hit .173, and it held a 10-9 edge in total team blocks. The Hawks posted nine service aces to the Stars' two, and five of New Paltz's aces came off team reception errors (three hit the net, and two off rotation errors).
 
New Paltz posted a pair of 3-0 runs early to hop out to an 11-6 lead in the first set, and the Hawks continued to stave off Dominican until the Stars called a timeout after an ace to pushed the score to 21-15. That Dominican timeout worked, as the Stars scored six straight points, the last of which, a block by Coyne and Mason Solbrig (Lake Villa, Ill.), tied the tally at 21-all. The teams went point for point until a kill by the Hawks' Christopher Husmann and a block assist by Steven Woessner and Brian Smith ended the set at 25-23 in favor of the Hawks.
 
Dominican scrapped early on in the second, but a 3-0 Hawks' run midway through the set gave New Paltz a 14-11 lead. The Hawks put the set out of reach a few points later with another 3-0 spurt, and a Brian Smith kill swelled the New Paltz cushion to six at 19-13. The Hawks were able to hold off any Dominican rally in the final points of the set, and New Paltz posted a 25-20 win in the frame.
 
Both teams battled early in the third, but a 5-0 New Paltz run midway through the set put New Paltz on top, 16-8. Down 24-14, Dominican (Ill.) made a run, staving off the match-ending point four times before Christian Smith delivered the knockout punch with a kill that spelled out the third-set score of 25-18.
 
For the Stars, Sinn keyed the attack with eight kills, while Coyne handed out 23 assists. Nevrly tallied a match-high nine digs, while Spangler and Mason Solbrig (Lake Villa, Ill.) each recorded five total blocks.