By Michael Del Genio
The Dominican men’s volleyball team sits atop the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) and stands #19 in the nation through the early goings of the season. The Stars are 1-2 after their away trip against the top teams in California.
Last season, the Stars took home the NACC trophy with a 19-8 overall record and an 11-1 conference record. They won the conference championship beating out now-ranked #21 Aurora in four sets.
Dominican wound up losing in the first round of the national playoffs to Cal Lutheran, the eventual champions.
The team is now prepared to begin their conference play this season on Tuesday, Feb. 11th at St Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. This will then be followed by their NACC home opener against Marian University on Saturday, Feb. 22nd.
“Every year, the expectation [for] our program is to win the NACC,” says sophomore outside Ty Geschke.
The team has a sense of accomplishment but is nowhere near satisfied.
“We’re ready to defend the [NACC] title, [but] we know we’re going to get the other teams best every time because they want to beat us so bad,” says junior libero Tyler Vrska. “We try not to look past teams because they’re going to try their hardest. We respect them by steamrolling them.”
The expectation of winning the NACC is a step forward for the team’s goal of taking home the national championship.
Even with their eyes set on the larger prize of winning the Division Three Men’s National Championship, they remain set on what remains in front of them.
The Stars entered a two-game homestand on Jan. 24th against North Park and will compete against Cal Lutheran on Thursday, Jan. 30th.
