All four sets came down to the wire, but the Lakeland College men's volleyball team came up short in a 28-26, 23-25, 25-21, 26-24 loss to Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) University Friday night in its home opener at the Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies had plenty of opportunities to win the match but fell to the 14th-ranked Lions for the second time this year, this time in both teams' Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League openers. Mount St. Joseph improved to 6-3 this season, while Lakeland dropped to 5-4.

Both the first and fourth sets went past 25 points, but both went to the visiting Lions. Lakeland had a set point at 26-25 in the first set but was unable to close it out, and the Muskies also were unable to come through in the end in close third and fourth sets.

The two teams were tied at 20-20 in the third set before Mount St. Joseph finished with five of the final six points. The fourth set was also tied 24-24, but a service error and an attack error gave the Lions the win in sudden fashion.

Alec Redlich (Sr.-Wauwatosa, Wis.) finished with 17 kills to lead the attack, but no other player finished with more than seven kills. Lakeland hit .142 as a team with 46 kills and 26 errors in 141 attack attempts.

Redlich also paced the Muskies with 12 digs, while Cole Aiazzi (Sr.-Yerington, Nev.) and Kyle Krogstad (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) added 11 digs each. Jordan Smith (Sr.-Channahon, Ill.) had 38 assists and Jeremy Mark (Sr.-Roselle, Ill.) paced the team with five blocks.

Alex Vohland led Mount St. Joseph with 19 kills and 15 digs. Jake Neiheisel added 13 kills. The Lions hit .179 for the match with 54 kills and 29 errors in 140 attacks.

Lakeland is home again Saturday when it faces Fontbonne (Mo.) University at 2 p.m.