After hosting three games in three days from January 21-23, the Benedictine University men's volleyball team played two straight games away from the Dan and Ada Rice Center. This week, the Eagles return to Lisle, as BenU is set to host Dominican University on Thursday night and Lakeland College on Saturday afternoon in Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League action.
Benedictine currently holds a 2-5 record in its inaugural season. The team played just once this past week, dropping its opening MCVL match at sixth-ranked Carthage College 3-1. Benedictine took the opening set 25-21 behind seven kills from
Eric Tarnow, but the Red Men rallied back to win the next three 25-16, 25-18, 25-18. Tarnow accumulated 12 total kills on the day, while
Sterling Glover racked up a team-high 14.
Markus Riemer added team-high is assists (33) and digs (15).
Thursday: vs. Dominican (1-3, 1-0), 7:00 p.m.
Men's Volleyball will be the third different Benedictine program to host the Stars this week, as Dominican's men's and women's basketball programs also visit Lisle. Dominican is in its second year as an NCAA Division III program, finishing 13-14 overall, 5-5 in conference play, and third place in the Continental Volleyball Conference West Division last season. The league's entire west division, which also consisted of Carthage, Lakeland, Mount St. Joseph University, Fontbonne University, and Milwaukee School of Engineering, all now compete in the MCVL.
The Eagles have faced all four of Dominican's opponents thus far. Dominican's lone win came on Saturday against Loras College 3-0, whom BenU also defeated in straight sets. Both teams also lost to St. Xavier University and then top-ranked (currently ranked fourth) Juniata College in four sets. The one difference in results for the teams is against Cardinal Stritch University. BenU defeated the Wolves in four sets to open the season on January 16, while the Stars fell in five sets to the Milwaukee school on January 27.
Saturday: vs. Lakeland (6-4, 1-1), 2:00 p.m.
Like Dominican, the Lakeland is also in its second season as a varsity program. However, the Muskies spent 17 seasons as a club program prior to becoming a NCAA Division III team. The years of experience showed a season ago, as although it was the team's inaugural NCAA season, the Muskies finished 21-8 overall, 8-2 in the Continental Volleyball Conference, and second in its West Division.
Lakeland has been one of the AVCA's busiest teams in the season's early going, as the Muskies, Mount St. Joseph, and MSOE all lead the conference with 10 matches played. Three of those matches came against ranked opponents, as the Muskies recorded wins over #15 Medaille College and #12 Elmira College as well a loss against #7 Nazareth College. To open its season, Lakeland lost to MSOE 3-2. The Eagles have fallen twice to MSOE this season: in four sets in Milwaukee and five sets in Lisle.
