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Dominican University Athletics

THE OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE OF THE DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY STARS OFFICIAL ATHLETICS SITE OF DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY
Cowan_Edge
0
Vassar VAS 6-3,2-2 UVC
3
Winner Dominican (IL) DU 17-1,11-1 NACC
Vassar VAS
6-3,2-2 UVC
0
Final
3
Dominican (IL) DU
17-1,11-1 NACC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Vassar VAS 23 18 23 (0)
Dominican (IL) DU 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball |

#3 Stars Win in Straight Sets, Advance to Final Four

Salem, VA -  The #3 Dominican University men's volleyball team advanced to the NCAA Men's Volleyball Final Four with a three-set sweep of #2 Vassar (25-23, 25-16, 25-23) on Thursday afternoon. This is the second time the Stars have advanced to the national semifinals, with the previous instance coming back in 2018.
 
Jack McGuire set up Mat Molloy for a finish early in the opening set to give Dominican a 10-6 lead. The Brewers battled back to take a 14-13 lead but McGuire would get a kill of his own to stop the momentum at 15-15. With Vassar holding a slim 19-18 advantage, Dominican won five straight points with kills from Adrian Cebula, George Kougan, and McGuire along with a service ace to take control of the set at 23-19. The Brewers responded with a 4-0 run to knot the match at 23-23 before another kill from Kougan and a Vassar attack error gave Dominican a 25-23 first set win.
 
A Cebula kill off the feed from McGuire broke a back and forth opening to the second set as Dominican held a narrow 11-9 lead. A pair of Stars attack errors allowed the Brewers to tie the set at 14-14 but Vassar would give those points right back to Dominican at 16-14. A Molloy finish pushed the margin to five, 20-15, forcing a Brewers' timeout. The break was not able to slow down the Stars however as they won five of the last eight points, capped off by a Kougan kill, to take set two 25-18.
 
The third set was a tight affair in the early going before a pair of Vassar attack errors gave Dominican a 12-9 lead and forced the Brewers to talk things over. Vassar was able to pull within two, 17-15, but a pair of timely kills by Trey Cowan kept the Brewers at bay, 21-18. Vassar kept within two at 23-21 to force a Dominican timeout but errors plagued the Brewers down the stretch as the Stars took set three 25-23 and the match 3-0.
 
"I'm really proud of our guys! What an awesome statement match," said Head Coach Cameron Andrew. "We've been pushing our guys to take pride in their defense and blocking and that was really the difference today."
 
To that point, Dominican recorded 11 total blocks as Troy Kates tied a career-high with six blocks.

"We didn't blow anyone away offensively but we controlled the match on the other side of the ball," continued Coach Andrew.

The majority of the offense came from the trio of Kougan (nine kills), Cebula (eight kills), and Cowan (eight kills) while McGuire registered 22 assists.

"It's a quick turnaround and now we need to get prepared to go take on Carthage," commented Coach Andrew. "It's going to be our toughest match of the year and I think our guys are ready."
 
#3 Dominican squares off with #1 Carthage tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. for a spot in the national championship.
 
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