Another strong blocking effort at the net wasn't enough for the Lakeland University men's volleyball team in a three-set loss to nationally ranked Milwaukee School of Engineering Friday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies finished with 14.5 team blocks, their fourth straight match with at least 11 blocks, but the Raiders defeated Lakeland 25-17, 32-30, 25-18 in a Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League match. MSOE came into the game ranked 14th in the latest AVCA/NCAA Division III Top 15 Poll and completed a sweep of the teams' two regular season matches.

The Muskies (11-9 overall, 8-6 MCVL) did their best to push the Raiders, building a wall up front as Desmond Williams (So.-Riverside, Calif.) finished with seven block assists and Tim Robbins (Sr.-Wheaton, Ill.) added two solo blocks and three more assisted. The team also got excellent defense from Dakota Hunter (So.-Waukesha, Wis.) and J.T. Levitt (So.-Schaumburg, Ill.), with Hunter finished with a career-high 19 digs and Levitt adding 17 digs.

Lakeland just couldn't muster enough firepower to tip the scales, though, finishing with 29 attack errors to just 25 kills for a negative hitting percentage. Casey Bolda (Sr.-Honolulu, Hawaii) totaled nine kills and was the only Muskie to hit above the .000 mark.

Lakeland also let an opportunity to get back into the match in the second set slip away, as the Raiders came back from a 21-18 deficit to get set points at 24-23. The Muskies fought off seven set points in a set that included a whopping 21 ties, but also could never get to a single set point themselves and eventually fell 32-30.

Hunter and Dan Matijevic (Sr.-Palatine, Ill.) both finished with six kills each, while Addison Mertler (So.-Boca Raton, Fla.) notched 20 assists. The Muskies played without the team's leader in kills, Matt Stolz (Sr.-Wauwatosa, Wis.), who was ill and did not play.

Logan Baerenwald led MSOE with 16 kills and also added 16 digs. The Raiders also struggled on the attack with 40 kills and 30 errors (.070 hitting percentage) and had four players finish with at least 16 digs, led by Danny Martens with 20, as the two teams played a number of long rallies.

The Muskies are home again Saturday when they face Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) University at 2 p.m. at the Woltzen Gym in another MCVL match.