Needing a win to extend its season, the Lakeland College men's volleyball team was again highly competitive against a nationally ranked team but finished a few points shy of victory in a four-set loss to Dominican (Ill.) University Wednesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

Riding the energy of Senior Night for five members of the team, the Muskies got off to a good start but ultimately fell 18-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23 to the Stars. Dominican came in ranked 14th in the AVCA/NCAA Division III Top 15 Coaches Poll and swept the season series between the two teams.

The match marked the end of Lakeland's season when Milwaukee School of Engineering topped Benedictine (Ill.) University in three sets on Wednesday, as MSOE clinched the final berth in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League Tournament by finishing one game ahead of the Muskies in the final conference standings. The Muskies finished a match behind MSOE in the MCVL standings and concluded the season with a 14-17 overall record and 7-7 conference mark.

Lakeland got off to a great start but could not pull out victories in three close sets to follow, a trend that marked the team for much of the season. Dating back to Feb. 21, of the Muskies' lost 20 of their 27 sets played that were decided by two or three points, a big difference in sets that went down to the wire.

Lakeland hit .258 in the first set with 13 kills and five errors in easily winning the opener, but Dominican (15-10 overall, 10-4 MCVL) slowly asserted control from there. The Stars hit at least .250 in each of the remaining three sets as the Muskies were unable to put up a consistent block, finishing with just three blocks for the match.

The Muskies had four players finish in double figures in kills. Alec Redlich (Sr.-Wauwatosa, Wis.) led with 13 kills, Matt Stolz (So.-Wauwatosa, Wis.) finished with 12, Casey Bolda (So.-Honolulu, Hawaii) finished with 11 and Tim Robbins (So.-Wheaton, Ill.) added 10.

Kyle Krogstad (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) led the way with 13 digs, while Cole Aiazzi (Sr.-Yerington, Nev.) added 10 digs. Jordan Smith (Sr.-Channahon, Ill.) finished with 47 assists.

The match was the final one for five seniors, including Aiazzi, Redlich, Smith, Jeremy Mark (Roselle, Ill.) and Andrew Torbenson (Green Bay, Wis.). Aiazzi, Mark and Redlich all were four-year members of the program dating back to its roots as a club team, while Smith and Torbenson both joined the Muskies last year in their first year as an NCAA Division III varsity team.