Lisle, IL - The sixth-ranked Dominican University men's volleyball team dropped their first match of the season, to the Benedictine University Eagles on Thursday evening at Benedictine's Dan and Ada Rice Center Gymnasium. The Stars went back and forth with the Eagles in the first four sets before dropping the final set (22-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 10-15).

The Stars fought hard to stay in the match and were able to learn a lot from the experience. "It's always tough losing a conference match, but now we have to learn from it and move forward," said Cameron Andrew, the Stars' Head men's Volleyball Coach, following the match. "Tonight, was our first big test and we definitely struggled with some things. We had a lot of opportunities and really struggled to put a ball away when we really needed to."

In the loss to the Eagles, the Stars fell just short hitting .284 behind the Eagles hitting .297 through the match. The Eagles knocked down 62 kills and the Stars managed 60. Dominican also posted nine total blocks to Benedictine's seven and picked up two more aces, 5-3.

Running the offense, Jack McGuire doled out 47 assists, while George Kougan knocked down a Dominican high 21 kills, hitting .321 with just four errors on 53 attempts. Mat Molloy finished with 11 kills while Troy Kates finished with eight on 17 swings. Defensively, Bregin DeMarco and Adrian Cebula recorded 16 and 11 digs respectively, while Molloy posted four total blocks at the net.

Coach Andrew is confident in this team and is looking forward to the games ahead, "We know our best ball is still ahead of us and now we just have to get back in the gym tomorrow and get back to work." Dominican will return to action on Tuesday, March 2nd when it host Aurora University with a start time of 5:00 p.m.