The Dominican University men's volleyball team ran their winning streak to nine with a three-set sweep (25-17, 25-16, 25-20) at the Igini Sports Forum on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Stars, ranked third in this week's AVCA Men's Division III Coaches Poll, improved to 9-1 on the season and remained perfect, 4-0, in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play.
"Very excited we were able to finish the weekend with a home sweep," said Dan Pawlikowski, the Stars' second-year head coach. "Lakeland threw a lot of different looks at us and posed some unique problems, but as a team we responded well to each challenge. It has been a good week to see so many guys step up and shine when called upon. We know we have another big week ahead for us as we continue in conference play."
Freshman
George Kougan led the way for the Stars in the win, knocking down a team-high 11 kills on just 19 swings, hitting .368 for the match. The 6'6 Kougan added a pair of block assists for 12.0 total points in the winning effort.
As a team, the Stars hit .284 for the match with setter
Jack McGuire running the offense. The sophomore doled out 31 assists and added six kills of his own on nine attack attempts.
Adrian Cebula chipped in seven kills while
Jake Sidner knocked down six and middles
Adam Eboli and
Patrick Bradford tallied four kills apiece.
Defensively, the Stars used seven blocks and 42 digs to limit the Muskies to a .059 hitting percentage on 101 attack attempts. After posting 11 total blocks in Dominican's win on Friday night, Eboli collected four block assists to lead the charge at the net while McGuire rounded out a double-double effort with a team-high ten digs.
For the Muskies, Matt Misheck knocked down a team-high nine kills while Nathan Vanderwaal and J.T. Levitt collected 11 digs apiece.
Dominican will be back in action on Thursday night, hitting the road for Lisle, Illinois, where the Stars will meet the fifth-ranked Benedictine University Eagles in a NACC tilt. The match is slated for a 5:30 p.m. first serve.
