The Dominican University men's volleyball team posted their second consecutive win to open Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) play, edging the Benedictine University Eagles in five sets (25-12, 21-25, 25-16, 22-25, 15-11) on Thursday evening in Lisle, Illinois.
 
Luke Spicer (St. Charles, Ill.) and Zachery Sinn (Winfield, Ill.) led four players with double-digit kills for the Stars, collecting 16 and 14 kills apiece while Sinn hit a hefty .520 with just one error on 25 total attacks.
 
Dominican overpowered the Eagles in the first set, posting a .920 sideout percentage and hitting .550 in the set with 11 kills on 20 attacks without committing an error.  With the set tied 4-4, Dominican went on an 8-1 run capped by a kill by Robert Mead (Darien, Ill.).  After Benedictine scored two straight, the Stars scored six straight on a series of Benedictine miscues, putting Dominican ahead comfortably at 18-7 and the Stars never looked back.
 
In the second set, Benedictine opened a 10-3 lead before holding off the Stars who pulled within one on three separate occasions.  The Eagles hit .478 in the set as they evened the match at one set apiece.
 
Dominican never trailed in the third set, leading by as many as 12 in the set on a balanced offensive attack that saw Sinn, Spicer and Alex Coyne (Naperville, Ill.) collect three kills apiece in the set.
 
Benedictine evened the match with a 25-22 win in the fourth set as the Eagles limited any Dominican runs, posting a .730 sideout percentage.  Dominican contributed to Benedictine's sideout percentage, committing six service errors in the set.
 
In the decisive fifth set, the Stars overcame an early 4-3 deficit as Spicer collected back-to-back kills after Dominican earned a sideout.  Then with the score at 7-6 in favor of Dominican, Brad McFarland (Tinley Park, Ill.) tallied three straight kills for Dominican as the Stars distanced themselves for the host Eagles.
 
The Stars dominated the stat sheet, hitting .338 for the match while holding the Eagles to a .137 attack percentage and doubling the Eagles up in blocks, 12-6.  However, 20 service errors for the Stars kept Benedictine in the match.
 
Solbrig and McFarland finished with 13 and 11 kills respectively while Coyne doled out 54 assists.
 
McFarland shared team-high honors with 12 digs with Brooks Nevrly (Downers Grove, Ill.) while Aidan Spangler (Western Springs, Ill.) posted a team-high six total blocks for the Stars.
 
Dominican, now 2-3 on the season and 2-0 in the MCVL, encounters their second top 15 opponent of the season when the Stars entertain the MSOE Raiders on Saturday afternoon in the Igini Sports Forum.  The MCVL tilt is slated for a 3:00 p.m.