The Dominican University men's volleyball team extended their program-best winning streak to 18 matches with a three-set sweep of the Wittenberg University Tigers (25-15, 25-18, 25-21) in Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) play Friday night at the Igini Sports Forum.  The Stars hit .386 in the winning effort, paced by Luke Spicer (St. Charles, Ill.) who knocked down a match-high 13 kills on just 25 attempts and added three block assists and an ace for a total of 15.5 total points.
 
With Dominican leading 13-12 in the first set, the Stars rattled off six straight points to open a 19-12 lead and never looked back.  Spicer collected four kills in the opening set while Michal Kawa and Mason Solbrig collected two apiece.
 
The second set was the most balanced set of the night, featuring seven ties and five lead changes.  Dominican hit .400 in the set and posted an .800 sideout percentage only to see the Tigers go 15-for-25 on sideouts to keep the set close.  Trading the lead throughout the first seven points of the set, Dominican forced a Tigers' timeout with a four-point run to open an 11-7 lead when Alex Coyne and Solbrig combined for back-to-back blocks.  The Stars then kept the Tigers at bay, allowing Wittenberg to score back-to-back points just once throughout the second set.
 
In the closing set, Dominican turned the offense over to freshman setter Evan Ruffner who ran the Stars to a .320 attack percentage.  Spicer collected five kills in the set while Ethan Klosak knocked down four kills to put the match away.
 
"We played well tonight as a team to earn the win," said Dan Ames, the Stars' head coach, following the match. "This is a big weekend for us and I'm glad the team found a way to start us off on the right foot.  Our focus now turns to Olivet for Saturday."
 
Solbrig and Kawa tallied six and five kills respectively in the winning effort while Coyne doled out 13 assists and Ruffner added 14.
 
The Stars, now 18-1 overall and 13-0 in the MCVL, can wrap up their spot in the 2017 MCVL tournament with two more conference wins this weekend with Olivet visiting the Igini Sports Forum on Saturday before the Mount St. Joseph Lions come to River Forest on Sunday.