The Dominican University men's volleyball team picked up their second win over an AVCA Men's Division III Top Five opponent of the season, topping the fourth-ranked Carthage College Red Men in four sets (25-21, 32-30, 22-25, 25-22) at the Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Friday night.
 
Dominican's Luke Spicer knocked down a season-high 24 kills in the winning effort, hitting .438 in the match, while Alex Coyne dished out 54 assists to lead the Stars to a .300 attack percentage.  In the back row, junior David DeMarco collected a career-high 15 digs while the Stars posted ten total blocks at the net.
 
"The team did a great job of executing tonight," commented Dan Ames, the Stars' head coach, following the win.  "We played well defensively which makes our offense run effectively. This is a great win for the program but it is just one win that we need to move closer to our ultimate goal. We are getting ready to face a very good MSOE team tomorrow."
 
The Stars went 15-for-22 on sideouts in the first set while Coyne utilized his arsenal of offensive weapons with Spicer, Michal Kawa, Jeremy Royko and Mason Solbrig all racking up three kills in the opening set.  The Stars hit .235 in the set despite six Carthage blocks while Dominican's defense limited the Red Men to a .206 hitting percentage, posting three blocks and collecting 13 digs to force the Red Men into seven attack errors.
 
In the second set, the Stars trailed 24-22, staving off set point on a kill by Spicer, one of seven in the set for the junior standout.  Back-to-back blocks for Ethan Klosak and Nick Timreck put the Stars in front before the Red Men were able to stave off set point with a kill by Zach Lillig.  The teams traded points before kills by Spicer and Kawa set up set point for Dominican while Klosak and Solbrig combined for the fifth block of the set for the Stars to open a 2-0 Dominican lead.
 
In the third set, the Red Men's back row helped Carthage swipe a set from the Stars, collecting 17 digs while allowing just 14 Dominican attacks to find the court.  Offensively, Carthage hit a match-high .294 with Lillig and Marc Hansen carrying the attack with six and five kills respectively in the set.
 
In the fourth set, Klosak stepped up as a balance to Spicer, knocking down eight of his career-high 15 kills in the clinching set.  Back-to-back kills by Klosak followed by a Spicer kill forced a Carthage timeout at 16-11, a lead the Stars would never relinquish.  Dominican hit a blistering .447 in the fourth set, knocking down 21 kills on 38 attempts while committing just four errors.
 
The Stars, now 23-2 on the season and 17-1 in the MCVL, close out the 2017 regular season on Saturday, traveling up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to take on the #13 MSOE Raiders.  The Stars will then begin prepping for the 2017 MCVL Tournament, to be played at either Dominican or Carthage on Friday and Saturday, April 14 and 15.