RIVER FOREST, Ill. (MCVL.org) - Saturday brought with it a number of firsts, but none sweeter than No. 8 Dominican's first conference tournament championship and automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship, after defeating No. 15 Mount St. Joseph, 3-1.
Post Match Notes (LINK)
Box Score (LINK)
Dominican set the tone early in set one, jumping out to a 7-3 lead before the Lions called their first timeout. Swing after swing, kill after kill, the Stars fed off the energy inside the Igini Sports Forum and gave the hometown fans plenty to cheer for, recording 11 kills on 19 attempts for a .474 attack percentage. Defensively, Dominican held Mount St. Joseph to nine kills on 25 attempts while forcing eight attacking errors.
Even without the gaudy offensive numbers, the Stars continued to operate like clockwork and recorded three three-point runs throughout the match. Leading 19-13, Dominican rattled off six of the final seven points to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
A renewed Mount St. Joseph team came out in set three and crafted a 9-2 run, which included a total of seven service and attacking errors by the Stars. Just as quickly as the Lions found themselves in front with the lead, Dominican came charging back to cut the deficit to four at 23-19 after a kill from Michal Kawa. Kills from Mount St. Joseph's Alex Vohland and Andrew Chisholm put the set to rest and pushed the match to a fourth set.
In the final frame, it was the Lions who built off the momentum gained from the third set and took an early lead at 9-7. The back and forth continued for the next 24 points, leaving the set tied at 20-all. A kill from Kawa followed by back-to-back Lion attacking errors pushed Dominican to a 23-20 lead and prompting a timeout from Mount St. Joseph. The Lions responded with a kill by Darrell Swanson but were unable to halt further momentum by the Stars as MCVL Tournament MVP Luke Spicer fired away his 19th kill of the match before Kawa put the bow on Dominican's tournament title with his 12th kill.
Following the conclusion of the championship match, the MCVL announced its All-Tournament Team: MVP - Luke Spicer (Dominican)
Alex Coyne (Dominican)
Nick Timreck (Dominican)
Alex Vohland (Mount St. Joseph)
Brett Cooper (Mount St. Joseph)
Quin Krisik (MSOE)
Cody Bolan (Carthage)