The Dominican University men's volleyball team scored their second ever win over an AVCA Top 15 opponent on Saturday, edging the 14^th-ranked MSOE Raiders in five sets (25-27, 25-17, 18-25, 25-17, 15-12) as the Stars posted their third straight victory to open play in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL).
 
Mason Solbrig (Lindenhurst, Ill.) collected ten kills and seven total blocks to lead the Stars while Zachery Sinn (Winfield, Ill.) added 11 kills and a block assist.
 
The Stars jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the first set before MSOE rallied with a 10-3 run capped by a kill by Nick Manning to give the Raiders their first lead of the set, 17-16.  The Stars and Raiders traded points until Manning and Scott Boyk collected back to back kills to stake the Raiders to a 22-20 lead.  After a Dominican sideout, another kill by Boyk and a Stars' attack error set up the first of three serves for set points for the Raiders who eventually gained the set on a Dominican attack error.
 
The Raiders carried the momentum into the second set, opening a 5-1 lead.  The Stars rallied with a 6-2 run that included kills by Solbrig and freshman Luke Spicer (St. Charles, Ill.), evening the score a 7-7.  The sides traded points until a serving error by Manning gave the Stars a 13-12 lead and sparked a 6-0 spurt that gave Dominican an 18-12 lead en route to the set win, evening the match at one set apiece.
 
In the third set, MSOE used a 10-4 run capped by a Boyk ace that opened an 18-13 advantage for the Raiders that the Stars could not overcome.
 
In the fourth set, Dominican's Jeremy Royko (Naperville, Ill.) knocked down the first of his three kills in the set before stepping back to serve five straight points for the Stars as Dominican opened an 11-7 lead before pulling away from the Raiders to even the match, 2-2.  The Stars hit .417 in the set, committing just two attack errors on 24 swings while knocking down 12 kills.
 
In the decisive fifth set, MSOE was the first to eight, leading the Stars 8-7 at the switch.  An ace extended the Raiders lead before Aidan Spangler (Western Springs, Ill.) knocked down his second kill of the set to pull the Stars within one.  After a Raider error, Alex Coyne (Naperville, Ill.) and Spangler put the Stars ahead as they combined to block Manning.  Two more hitting errors by the Raiders added to the Dominican lead, a lead the Stars would not surrender.
 
Coyne ran the Stars' offense, collecting 36 assists on 46 Dominican kills.  Dominican hit .269 for the match, committing just 14 attack errors on 119 total attempts.  Dominican also racked up eight aces, four from Royko who appeared in three sets off the Stars' bench.
 
Defensively, the Stars posted 16.0 total blocks.  Spangler was in on nine blocks, two of the solo variety.
 
The Stars, now 3-3 on the season, return to action next weekend.  On Friday, the Stars will host the Fontbonne University Griffins for a 7:00 p.m. match.  Dominican will then entertain #13 Mount St. Joseph University and #8 UC-Santa Cruz on Saturday and Sunday respectively.