Michael Del Genio
Dominican men’s volleyball enters preseason ranked 4th in the NACC standings and is already setting the tone with a hot 3-0 start, with a suffocating second win at home against Adrian College in three sets. The Stars also swept North Park University in their home as well as Augusta College in the Igini Sports Forum.
The team has yet to trail by more than three points in a singular set. Their powerhouse defense averaging nearly four blocks a set, as well as nine digs a set, allowing opposition a measly .041 hitting percentage on 244 attempts.
The offense as well is off to a dominant start, swinging at a .357 clip in 217 attempts, averaging twelve kills per set. Drowning opposing teams in relentless attacks.
This impressive start comes from their extra week of training overseas playing top teams in Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy. As well as a newfound mindset, “No Bubbles.” Junior outside Ty Geschke attributes success of this mentality to graduate assistant coach Matt Stillman, “He said that when you’re playing a team, you dunk their head underwater until there are no bubbles.”
Sophomore setter Landon Kassulke praises this mindset for success in games even overseas, where they went 0-4, “A lot of the younger guys saw what it was on the court with the guys on the bench and understand bench culture. They were hyping us up every time and staying mentally focused. As the first set got out of hand. No bubbles. Every time I go to the bench, we say no bubbles. We’re so bought into this winning culture.”
Stillman elaborates more on ‘No Bubbles,’ “I think it’s a good mindset to have, wanting to dominate in every single phase of the game. You don’t want the other team to have a chance, think they have life. You want to put it on and play your best game throughout the entire match; you don’t want to let up.”
The team goes into the season with a fresh chip on their shoulder, “All of us have something to prove, and we haven’t been part of a winning team. There’s definitely us, we’re going to prove something every year. We’re going to get back to the level Dominican historically has been,” Kassulke states.
The Stars had a historic worst placing season last year at fourth, marking it the first time they didn’t make the Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference (NACC) tournament championship.
Geschke speaks confidently on the preseason ranking and last year, “It sets a fire, makes us realize what other people think our team is projected at. It’ll be interesting with two of the three teams above us are away games. Aurora and MSOE, go into their home and see what we can do against them. One of our last home games against Benedictine is something we’ll remember.”
Head Coach Doug Burchett reflects the ‘No Bubbles’ mentality, “Expectation is always to win the conference tournament. Win tough matches, and against tough opponents last year we weren’t able to close out. Main focus comes to we have to be an aggressive serving team and a very good offensive team.”
With the team off to a hot start with a killer mentality, the Stars are poised for a strong run this season. They open conference play this Thursday, January 29th at Lakeland University and return home February 1st to play division three powerhouse California Lutheran University.
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