MILWAUKEE – Tim Robbins (Jr.-Wheaton, Ill.) was nearly automatic on the attack all night and had three of his 14 kills in the deciding fifth set as the Lakeland College men's volleyball team defeated Cardinal Stritch University in five sets Tuesday night.

The Muskies defeated the sixth-ranked team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), outlasting the Wolves 17-25, 25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 15-13. Lakeland defeated a nationally ranked NAIA team for the first time and improved to 3-0 this season.

The Muskies won narrow decisions in the second and third sets that included a rally from a 22-17 deficit in the second set plus a win in a third set that included a staggering 20 ties.

Casey Bolda (Jr.-Honolulu, Hawaii) had a pair of kills late plus combined with Desmond Williams (Fr.-Riverside, Calif.) for the winning block as Lakeland rallied with an 8-1 run at the end of the second set to tie the match. Bolda also had the winning point in the third set, when the Muskies finished with four of the final five points to take the lead in the match.

Cardinal Stritch won the fourth set with relative ease, but Lakeland overcame an early two-point deficit to get ahead in the fifth set. Christian Frahm (Jr.-Palatine, Ill.) served an ace to make it 12-10, but Stritch came back to tie the score at 12-12 and again at 13-13. Robbins and Matt Stolz (Jr.-Wauwatosa, Wis.) recorded a huge block to give the Muskies match point, and Robbins came up with the winning kill on a blocking error by the Wolves.

Robbins finished with 14 kills and just two errors in 20 attack attempts for a sterling .600 hitting percentage. Bolda and Stolz both added 13 kills each. Lakeland hit .218 as a team with 54 kills and 25 errors in 133 attempts, just ahead of the Wolves .208 percentage with 58 kills and 28 errors in 144 attempts.

Addison Mertler (Fr.-Boca Raton, Fla.) led the team with 47 assists and added two service aces. Bolda led the team with 10 digs and also added five block assists while Kyle Krogstad (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) added eight kills and eight digs, Robbins finished with four block assists and Williams also chipped in five kills and four blocks (one solo, three assisted).

Lakeland next will take a trip to California to play in the Cal Lutheran University Posada Royale Invitational. The Muskies open on Friday with a match against UC Santa Cruz at 10 p.m. Central time. The Banana Slugs are ranked fifth in the preseason AVCA NCAA Division III Top 15 Coaches Poll.