The Dominican University men's volleyball team, ranked sixth in the week one AVCA Men's Division III Top 15 poll, opened their 2019 home slate on Saturday at the Igini Sports Forum, sweeping a pair of non-conference matches from the Augustana College Vikings and Mount St. Joseph Lions to move to 2-1 on the season.  For the Stars, Jake Sidner hit .444 on the day, knocking down 30 kills on 54 attacks to pace the Stars to the wins.

"After a slow start to set one this morning, we were very encouraged to see the team fight back and take the deuce point victory against a feisty Augustana team," said Dan Pawlikowski, the Stars' second-year head coach. "I thought we improved our play each set today. To earn two sweeps in our home opener and in front of a great crowd was a fun way for us to spend our Saturday. It wasn't always perfect volleyball, but we had contributions from our entire team. That means a lot as we continue to raise the level of competition this season."
 
The Stars will hit the road next Saturday, traveling to nearby Naperville, Illinois, for a tri-match featuring the California Lutheran Kingsmen and North Central College Cardinals at North Central.
 
Dominican 3, Augustana 0
 
Dominican's balanced offensive attack hit .306 as the Stars swept through the Augustana College Vikings, 26-24, 25-22, 25-19.  Six different hitters knocked down kills, paced by Sidner and Ethan Klosak who tallied nine and seven kills respectively while Jack McGuire and Evan Ruffner dished out 17 and ten assists respectively.
 
The Stars trailed 20-13 in the opening set before scoring three straight to climb back.  After the sides traded a pair of quick sideouts, Dominican ripped off five straight points with Klosak serving to even the set at 22-22.  After another sideout, Dominican scored four of the set's final five points to take the opening frame.
 
The Stars never trailed in the second stanza, hitting .280 in the frame and going 16-for-23 on sideouts to open a 2-0 lead before closing out the Vikings in the third behind four kills from Adrian Cebula and a .333 attack percentage for Dominican.
 
Defensively, Dominican was able to slow the Vikings to a .126 attack percentage for the match, posting nine blocks at the net and collecting 33 digs in the back row.  Adam Eboli got in on six of Dominican's blocks while McGuire tallied three block assists.
 
Dominican 3, Mount St. Joseph 0
 
In the nightcap, Dominican needed just 65 minutes to dispose of the visiting Lions in three sets, 25-23, 25-15, 25-19.  The Stars rode Sidner's heavy hand, as the junior collected a match-high 21 kills, leading the Dominican attack to a .356 hitting percentage.  Sidner tallied eight kills in both the opening and clinching sets as the Stars picked up their second win of the day.
 
Sidner accounted for nearly half of the Stars' 45 kills with Klosak knocking down five over the match's first two sets while McGuire, Eboli and Patrick Bradford logging four kills apiece.  McGuire also ran the offense, doling out 34 assists.
 
Defensively, Dominican limited the Lions to a .117 attack percentage by collecting 37 digs.  Klosak picked up a match-high eight digs while McGuire added seven.