The Dominican University men's volleyball team opened the 2020 season on Thursday night, picking up a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) three-set (25-11, 25-18, 25-14) win over the Marian University Sabres on the road in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.  The Stars hit a blistering .442 in the winning effort, behind a balanced attack that saw junior setter Jack McGuire dole out 36 assists while utilizing six different attackers.
 
"That was a solid way to start our season," commented Cameron Andrew, the Stars' head coach in his first season with the men's program at Dominican. "We set out to play controlled volleyball and did a great job of that. I loved the diverse offense we ran and how we distributed the ball tonight. Jack got everyone involved and the hitters all did their jobs. If we continue to move the ball around like that, we are going to score a ton of points this year."
 
"Defensively, we have been putting a big focus on our intensity and we lost that in the second set a little bit," continued Andrew. "The offense kept plugging away but I would have liked to see the defense sustain the level of intensity we showed in the first set."
 
George Kougan paced the attack, knocking down 11 kills on 20 swings while committing just three errors.  Preseason All-American Ethan Klosak hit .538, collecting eight kills on just 13 swings as did junior middle Troy Kates.  Jake Sidner added seven kills while sophomore Mat Molloy finished with five kills on nine attack attempts.
 
As a team, the Stars committed just nine total attack errors on 77 attempts while finishing the night with 43 kills.
 
Defensively, the Stars limited the Sabres to just 19 kills on 78 attack attempts while forcing 15 errors with five total blocks and 40 digs.  Jack McGuire rounded out a double-double, sharing team-high honors with Bregin DeMarco with ten digs apiece while Kougan and Kates finished the night with three block assists apiece.
 
Dominican will sit idle until Friday, January 31, traveling to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, for another NACC tilt, this time with the Lakeland University Muskies.  The Stars then open the home portion of their 2020 slate on Friday, February 7, hosting the Fontbonne University Griffins at the Igini Sports Forum.