MILWAUKEE – It took some time, but the Lakeland College women's volleyball team punched its ticket to the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament with a four-set win on the road over Alverno College Wednesday night.
The Muskies were far from dominant but still notched a 25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 25-18 win that was significant in a number of ways. Lakeland improved to 7-3 in the NACC to wrap up a finish of no worse than fifth in the conference and clinch a spot in the six-team NACC tourney for the third straight year. The team also improved to 14-14 overall and climbed back to the .500 mark for the season for the first time in nearly a month.
The Muskies powered through the second and fourth sets but had troubles in the first and third. Lakeland still was in position to sweep the match, though, until hitting a slide late in the third set.
Lakeland trailed as late as 16-15 in the first set before coming back to win, and then built a 10-point lead in the second set before Alverno (9-17 overall, 0-10 NACC) got as close as two. The Muskies then led by as many as six on five different occasions in the third set, the last time at 20-14, before the hosts rattled off 11 of the last 13 points to steal the set.
Lakeland responded in the fourth set, though, scoring the first six points and never trailing. The Muskies hit .333 in the final set with 12 kills and just two errors, and
Allison Errthum (
Fr.-Joliet, Ill.) served two separate strings of six straight points, including six in a row to start the set.
Jenna Ward (
Jr.-Wisconsin Dells, Wis.) piled up 15 kills,
Kathy Flanagan (
So.-Midlothian, Ill.) tallied 11 and
Brittini Scoles (Fr.-Kewaskum, Wis.) added 10 kills.
Taylor Levitt (
So.-Schaumburg, Ill.) finished with 37 assists and also added 19 digs and
Brooke Aiazzi (
Jr.-Yerington, Nev.) led the team with 25 digs.
The Muskies hit .172 for the match with 51 kills and 23 errors. Alverno actually posted a higher hitting percentage at .189 with 46 kills and 18 errors, but Lakeland finished with a 10-0 advantage in service aces.
The Muskies close out their NACC regular season schedule on Saturday when they travel to conference-leading Dominican (Ill.) University in River Forest, Ill., for a match at 4 p.m.
