The Dominican University men's volleyball team, playing in the 2018 Power Weekend hosted by Wittenberg University, went 2-0 on Saturday, sweeping the host Tigers (25-7, 25-14, 25-12) before outlasting the Penn State Altoona Lions in five sets (30-32, 25-19, 25-16, 19-25, 15-7).  The wins push the fifth-ranked Stars to 6-2 on the season with Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play set to open on Friday when Benedictine University visits the Stars at the Igini Sports Forum.
 
"It was nice for us to pull out the victories today," commented Dan Pawlikowski, the Stars' head coach. "After a long weekend, fighting to close out the fourth match in the fifth set was a total team effort. We also saw improvements in a few areas we have been focused on. It was good to see a number of the freshmen perform in extended stints for the first time this season."
 
Luke Spicer and Ethan Klosak continued to carry the load offensively while freshman Troy Kates came through with ten kills in the win over Penn State Altoona and 12 kills on the day, appearing in just his second and third matches of the season.  Spicer hit .388 on the day, totaling 23 kills, ten against Wittenberg and 13 against the Lions, on just 49 swings.  Klosak, the team leader on the season averaging 3.10 kills per set, tallied 20 kills in the wins.  Freshman setter Jack McGuire ran the offense to a .326 attack percentage, tallying 87 assists, averaging 10.8 per set.
 
Defensively, the Stars limited their opponents to just a .084 attack percentage, surrendering just 18 kills to the Tigers while forcing the Lions into 32 hitting errors with 14 blocks.  Adam Eboli posted nine total blocks, one solo and eight block assists, in six sets of action while McGuire and Nick Timreck collected seven and six block respectively.