The Dominican University men's volleyball team returned to action on Friday, posting a pair of three-set victories—topping the Augustana College Vikings (25-14, 25-15, 25-18) before rolling through the Trinity Christian College Trolls (25-22, 25-11, 25-22).  With the wins, the Stars, ranked fifth in this week's AVCA Division III Men's Coaches Poll, remain unbeaten at 3-0 with a matchup with the #3 UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs up next on Sunday afternoon at the Igini Sports Forum.
 
"I thought it was another good day for our program," commented Dan Pawlikowski, the Stars' first-year head coach. "It was great to win two matches over two good teams. We limited the number of sets we had to play and that is important on such a busy weekend.  I was very happy to see a number of players contribute to our success today. Seeing the progress we made since our season-opener last week was very pleasing."
 
The Stars hit a combined .388 in the matches, committing just 15 hitting errors on 129 total swings all day.  Twelve different hitters tallied at least one kill for Dominican, paced by sophomore Ethan Klosak who totaled 16 kills while hitting .286 and averaging 2.67 kills per set.  Classmate Jake Sidner added 11 kills in the wins, while senior Luke Spicer and junior Adam Eboli collected ten kills apiece.
 
In the win over the Vikings, sophomore setter Evan Ruffner ran the offense to a .367 hitting percentage, dishing out 20 assists.  Klosak knocked down nine kills and totaled 13.5 points, adding a pair of aces along with a solo block and three block assists.
 
In the back row, libero David DeMarco helped hold the Vikings to a .034 hitting percentage as he collected a team-high eight digs.
 
In the nightcap, Ruffner doled out 26 assists as Dominican hit at a blistering .406 clip.  After sitting out the final two sets against the Vikings, Spicer led the attack over the Trolls, knocking down eight kills on just ten swings, hitting an even .700.  Klosak added seven kills while Nick Timreck and Eboli knocked down six apiece.
 
Defensively, Timreck posted four total blocks and DeMarco again led the back row effort with a team-high nine digs as Dominican held the Trolls to an .040 hitting percentage.