The Dominican University men's volleyball split a pair of matches in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on Saturday evening, taking a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) match from the Lakeland University Muskies in four sets (25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 25-14) before falling in a non-conference tilt to the seventh-ranked Southern Virginia University Knights in four sets (25-17, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21).
 
"Not the finish we were hoping for on the week," said Dan Pawlikowski, the Stars' head men's volleyball coach, "but we saw a much better energy level and effort than the last few weeks. I'm very happy to keep pace in the conference, but we still need to have a consistent level of play to pull out a victory over the nationally ranked teams. Yet overall some very positive components to build upon as we enter the last few weeks of the regular season."
 
The Stars hit .259 as a team on the day, paced by Jake Sidner's 22 kills and Ethan Klosak's 20.  Jack McGuire, the Stars' primary setter, doled out a total of 68 assists, averaging 8.5 assists per set over the eight sets Dominican played on the day.
 
In the win over Lakeland, Klosak led the attack, knocking down 12 kills while Adam Eboli added eight and Sidner and Patrick Bradford chipped in seven kills apiece.  That Stars hit .292 as a team in the winning effort with McGuire dishing out 42 assists while spreading the ball around to nine different attackers.
 
Defensively, the Stars slowed the Muskies attack to a .172 hitting percentage.  Powered by Bradford at the net, Dominican tallied 11 total blocks.  Bradford got in on nine blocks while Klosak posted four block assists.  In the back row, McGuire rounded out a double-double with a team-high 12 digs.
 
Dominican's attack was not nearly as efficient in the nightcap, hitting .221 in the loss to the Knights.  Sidner knocked down a team-high 15 kills in the loss on just 30 swings.
 
The Knights managed to hit around the Dominican block, posting a .311 attack percentage behind Nahue Recabarren and Paul Clark who tallied 17 and 16 kills respectively. 
 
The Stars, now 12-9 on the season and 7-3 in NACC play, return to conference action on Wednesday, hosting the Marian University Sabres for a 7:00 p.m. match at the Igini Sports Forum.