Dakota Hunter (Sr.-Waukesha, Wis.) hammered home 16 kills and the Lakeland University men's volleyball team was victorious in its home opener, defeating Cardinal Stritch University in four sets Wednesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies lost the first set but found their stride after that and completed a 20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-21 victory over the Wolves in the non-conference tilt. Lakeland defeated Stritch for the second time in six varsity matches and for the first time since 2016.

Hunter hit at a .262 rate for the match and heated up in the fourth set with eight of his 16 kills. Five kills came in a big run when the Muskies (3-1 overall) went on a 10-2 run, turning a 14-11 deficit into a 21-16 lead.

Hunter also finished with eight digs and two service aces. After Cardinal Stritch (0-4 overall) came back to tie the fourth set at 21-21, Lakeland scored the final four points of the match to close it out, including an ace by Hunter for a 23-21 lead.

Stritch opened hot in the first set, hitting .385 in taking the lead, and the Wolves hit .348 in the second set as well. The Muskies answered with an even better number, though, with 12 kills and one error for a .550 hitting percentage in taking the second set to even the match. Lakeland also hit better than Stritch in the final two sets and finished the match attacking at a .248 clip (47 kills, 17 errors in 121 attempts).

Nathan Vanderwaal (Jr.-Rockford, Ill.) also added 12 kills and Matt Misheck (So.-Oak Forest, Ill.) finished with eight kills plus a team-high 11 digs. Addison Mertler (Sr.-Boca Raton, Fla.) also posted 38 assists, three block assists and two aces, and J.T. Levitt (Sr.-Schaumburg, Ill.) also added nine digs.

Trent Sellers finished with match highs of 17 kills and 13 digs for the Wolves. Felipe Mello Oliveira also posted 10 kills and Efrain Sharkey also totaled nine block assists as Cardinal Stritch totaled 10 blocks for the match.

Lakeland is idle for more than a week, with its next match coming on the road Saturday, Feb. 2 at Carthage College at noon in Kenosha.