The Dominican University men's volleyball team, making their second NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship appearance, has been pitted against Hunter College at the Kenosha Regional hosted by Carthage College.  The Stars and Hawks will square off on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. at the Tarble Arena with the winner advancing to the national quarterfinals to face the host Red Men on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. with a spot in the national semifinals on the line.
 
The Stars, 24-7 on the season and ranked eighth in last week's AVCA Division III Men's Top 15, earned their spot in the tournament with a back-and-forth five-se t win over Benedictine University in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament Championship on Saturday night, placing the Stars in the 12-team field for the second straight year.
 
After getting off to a 6-3 start through the first nine games of the season, Dominican began rounding into form, winning nine of their next ten, including wins over nationally-ranked Southern Virginia University, UC-Santa Cruz and NYU.  The Stars, 6-6 against nationally ranked opponents this season, are 1-2 against the tournament field and have faced both teams they will see at the Kenosha Regional.  Back on March 6, on the Stars' final day of their Spring Trip to New York and New Jersey, Dominican swept through Hunter College (25-16, 25-19, 25-19) on the Hawks home court in New York City.  Earlier in the season, Dominican was swept by the Carthage Red Men (25-18, 25-22, 25-16) at the Igini Sports Forum in River Forest, Illinois.
 
Hunter College, 23-10 on the season, earned its way into the national tournament by winning the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) for the third straight season, topping Baruch College in three sets (25-18, 25-16, 25-22).  The Hawks are 1-7 in eight matches against the teams in the 2018 NCAA Division III Championship field.  Hunter's win over the field came back on March 15 as the Hawks knocked off St. Joseph's College-Long Island.