The Lakeland College men's volleyball team recorded 16.5 blocks and used outstanding defense to earn a four-set win over Milwaukee School of Engineering Monday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymasium.

The Muskies rebounded after losing a long first set, eventually putting away the Raiders 29-31, 25-23, 25-20, 25-20. Lakeland defeated the No. 14-ranked team in the most recent AVCA NCAA Division III Top 15 Coaches' Poll, winning its third match over a ranked opponent this season and improving to 8-4 overall and 3-1 in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League.

Neither team hit at a high percentage in a match that featured both teams putting up strong blocks. MSOE (8-5 overall, 1-4 MCVL) came close to matching the Muskies' total, finishing with 11.5 blocks, but just four of those came in the final two sets, including zero in the final set.

Lakeland finished with a pedestrian .078 hitting percentage with 40 kills and 30 errors in 129 attack attempts, but the hosts were able to get going after a tough first set. The Muskies hit -.103 in the opening frame but improved to .172 in the second set and then attacked at a .194 clip in the final set.

More impressive for Lakeland was the -.007 hitting percentage it held MSOE to, as the Raiders finished with 38 kills and 39 errors in 137 attempts. The guests won the opening set despite hitting .000 with 12 kills and 12 errors, and the numbers were worse in third and fourth sets that ended with -.032 hitting percentages.

Cole Aiazzi (Sr.-Yerington, Nev.) finished with 19 digs, one-third of the Muskies' total of 57 digs. Matt Stolz (So.-Wauwatosa, Wis.) added 12 digs and nine players finished with one dig, including Andrew Torbenson (Jr.-Green Bay, Wis.), who had four digs as a serving specialist.

Alec Redlich (Sr.-Wauwatosa, Wis.) led the Lakeland attack with 10 kills, Stolz had nine kills and Tim Robbins (So.-Wheaton, Ill.) and Casey Bolda (So.-Honolulu, Hawaii) both added seven kills each. Jordan Smith (Sr.-Channahon, Ill.) finished with 36 assists, Stolz led the team with four service aces, and Robbins led the blockers with seven total blocks (three solo, four assisted).

The Muskies now get ready for a big weekend coming up in which they will face three ranked teams over two days. The stretch includes a pair of ranked squads on Saturday, when Lakeland travels to Kenosha to face No. 8-ranked UC Santa Cruz and No. 6 Carthage College.