The Dominican University men's volleyball team suffered a pair of losses in Santa Cruz, California, on Monday evening, falling to the University of California Merced Bobcats in five sets (19-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-18, 15-10) before falling to the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs in four sets (25-19, 25-23, 26-28, 25-23).  The losses drop the Stars to 9-6 on the season, extending Dominican's current losing streak to five matches after winning nine in a row.
 
"Another real tough day for us as a group," said Dan Pawlikowski, the Stars' second-year head men's volleyball coach. "Credit UC Merced and UCSC for making plays at big times. Sometimes it just feels like nothing goes right or the way we planned, but we have to continue to trust each other and work together to overcome. We had some really good positive energy and play from reserves like Lucas Eggers and Daniel Sharrah. Now it is the time of the season when we find out what we are made of as a team. The schedule doesn't get any easier moving forward. Time to learn and reset for Concordia Irvine on Wednesday."
 
In the losses, the Stars hit below .200 as a team for just the fourth and fifth matches of the season, including a season-low .066 attack percentage in the loss to UC Santa Cruz.  The Stars did average better than 10.3 kills per set for the evening but committed 54 attack errors while the Bobcats and Banana Slugs combined for 23 blocks, 15 alone for the host Banana Slugs.
 
Jake Sidner, Adam Eboli and Adrian Cebula all totaled double-digit kills in the five-set loss to UC Merced.  Sidner led the way with a team-high 14 kills on 36 swings while Eboli and Cebula tallied ten kills each.  Jack McGuire ran the offense to a .197 attack percentage, collecting 39 assists in the loss.
 
McGuire rounded out a double-double with a team-high 14 digs while Bregin DeMarco added 11 digs.  At the net, the Stars totaled 16 blocks.  Eboli was in on eight total blocks with one solo and seven block assists while Patrick Bradford got in on six blocks (two solo, four assist).
 
The Bobcats, led by Jose Leon Gomez's 14 kills, hit at a .183 clip, knocking down 55 kills on 142 attacks while committing 29 errors.
 
In the loss to the Banana Slugs, freshman George Kougan knocked down a team-high nine kills for the Stars in the loss while McGuire posted another double-double with 33 assists and 11 digs.
 
The Stars continue play on Wednesday, traveling to Concordia University Irvine before returning to the Midwest to get back to league play on Saturday at MSOE.