The Dominican University men's volleyball team played their way into the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) postseason tournament on Saturday afternoon with a four-set (21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-14) win over the Marian University Sabres in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.  With the win the Stars finished 9-4 in the MCVL, 17-8 overall, earning the four-seed in the league's 2016 tournament.
 
After hitting just .077 in the opening set, the Stars hit .364 the rest of the way behind Trevor Slonek (West Chicago, Ill.) and Charlie Spry (Barrington, Ill.) who finished with 12 and 11 kills respectively.  Alex Coyne (Naperville, Ill.) and Joe Marchese (Orland Park, Ill.) shared setting duties, doling out 24 and 21 assists, while Mason Solbrig (Lindenhurst, Ill.) and Luke Spicer (St. Charles, Ill.) knocked down nine kills apiece without committing an error.
 
Defensively, the Stars held the Sabres to a .106 attack percentage, collecting 43 digs while allowing just 39 kills.  Brooks Nevrly (Downers Grove, Ill.) and Jeremy Royko (Naperville, Ill.) led the back-row effort with 13 digs apiece while Solbrig was in on four of Dominican's five blocks.
 
Marian was Aaron Wendels's match-high 15 kills while Joey Dittman doled out 36 assists.
 
In the MCVL Tournament, the Stars will square off with the top-seeded Carthage College Red Men.  The match is slated for a 7:00 p.m. first serve on Friday in Carthage's Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
 
"It was a rough weekend," commented Dan Ames, the Stars' head coach in his third season, following the win, "but we ended on a high note. All you can ask for is an opportunity and we snuck into the tournament. Now we have a week to prepare.  We have to be better and play cleaner volleyball."