Santa Cruz, Cal. – Dominican University Men’s Volleyball kicks off their 2025 campaign against the University of California, Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz for the Slug Fest Tournament.
Series History vs. UCSC:
All-Time Record / Streak: Series tied 4-4 / Dominican L1
Last Meeting (2/16/2024): Dominican 1, UCSC 3 (25-21, 29-31, 21-25, 18-25)
Record in Santa Cruz: 0-1
DU in Review:
- Dominican begins a stretch of three matches in three days to open the 2025 season, with two matches taking place on Saturday, January 18th.
-The Slug Fest Tournament marks the first time the Stars have traveled to the state of California since 2019, where they would drop a pair of matches to the University of California, Merced, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
-The 2025 season marks the 2nd season with Head Coach Doug Burchett at the helm. The Stars finished the 2024 season with a record of 19-8 and were 11-1 in conference.
-DU heads into 2025 looking to defend their 2024 NACC Regular Season and Tournament titles.
-Last season, the Stars were able to improve their hitting percentage from .218 in 2023 to .270.
Familiar Faces:
-Dominican has five of their top six kill leaders returning from the 2024 season, with Senior Casey Goss leading the way with 349 total kills, equaling 3.60 kills per set.
-Goss was awarded NACC Player of the Year honors in 2024 and was also an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American, AVCA All-West Regional Team, and NACC First Team All-Conference recipient. Goss led the Stars in kills, aces, digs, and sets played while being 3rd in total blocks.
-Junior Michael Greco and Senior Jason Kougan resume their roles as the Stars’ pair at middle Blocker. Greco paced Dominican in 2024 with 85 blocks, followed by Kougan’s 83.
- Senior Owen Morrow returns as DU’s setter. Morrow was able to tally 918 assists in the 2024 campaign and started all in all of Dominican’s 27 matches.
Scouting Report:
-California, Santa Cruz enters the contest with a record of 3-1, having already defeated a NACC opponent in Wisconsin Lutheran, 3-0.
-UCSC has won nine consecutive sets over their last three matches.
- The Banana Slugs finished the 2024 season with a 17-10 record and were 2-5 when defending their home floor.
