Santa Cruz, Cal. – Dominican University Men’s Volleyball will wrap up the Slug Fest Tournament with a pair of matches on Saturday, January 18th against New Paltz and California Lutheran.
Series History vs. New Paltz:
Dominican and New Paltz first played in 2014 in New Paltz, NY (L, 0-3)
All-Time Record / Streak: 0-5 / Dominican L5
Last Meeting (1/19/2023): Dominican 0, New Paltz 3 (16-25, 22-25, 11-25)
Record in Neutral Site Matches vs. New Paltz: 0-1
Series History vs. California Lutheran:
Dominican and California Lutheran first played in 2017 on a neutral site in Springfield, OH (W, 3-1)
All-Time Record / Streak: 3-3 / Dominican L3
Last Meeting in the NCAA Tournament (4/19/2024): Dominican 1, California Lutheran 3 (25-21, 18-25, 17-25, 20-25)
Record in Neutral Site Matches vs. California Lutheran: 2-1
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 the 2025 season looking to defend their 2024 NACC Regular Season and Tournament titles.
Last Time Out:
-The Stars dropped their first contest of the 2025 season to UCSC 0-3 (22-25, 23-25, 15-25)
-Senior Tanner Dahman paced DU with 9 kills on a .304 clip.
-Senior Casey Goss finished with 8 kills and led the squad with 7 digs.
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 vs. New Paltz:
-New Paltz currently sits with a 0-1 record after suffering a loss to Menlo College on January 15th, 0-3.
-The Hawks compete Friday, January 17th against Carthage College in Santa Cruz.
-New Paltz went 17-13 during the 2024 season, including a 4-3 record in neutral site matches.
Scouting Report vs. California Lutheran:
-California Lutheran holds a 2-1 record on the 2025 season, including a sweep of NACC opponent Wisconsin Lutheran on Saturday, January 11th.
-CLU faces off against UCSC on Friday, January 17th.
-The Kingsmen finished the 2024 campaign with a 26-5 record, which included defeating Dominican in the first round of the 2024 NCAA DIII Men’s Volleyball Championship en route to becoming National Champions with a win over Vassar, 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-23).
