MADISON – The Lakeland University women's volleyball team gained some separation from the rest of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference pack with an important victory at Edgewood College Saturday afternoon at the Todd Wehr Edgedome.

The Muskies defeated the Eagles 25-19, 25-21, 25-18 to improve to 7-1 in conference play and remain in the thick of a pack of four teams at the top of the standings with one loss each. Lakeland also moved two games ahead of Edgewood (6-3 NACC) and is now two games in the loss column clear of teams 5-through-13 in the standings.

The Muskies showed their strength in the latter stages of all three sets, which were close as the teams neared the halfway point. Lakeland went on runs of 8-0 in the first set, 5-1 in the second and closed the match on a 6-1 roll to win in three.

The Muskies also were the much steadier team attacking, hitting at a .236 rate with 36 kills and 11 errors in 106 attacks. Edgewood posted 32 kills but 24 errors in hitting .069 for the match.

Shannon Bishop (Sr.-River Grove, Ill.) finished with 11 kills and Erin Iwanski (Sr.-St. Francis, Ill.) added eight kills in 13 swings. Neenah Primas (Jr.-Oostburg, Wis.) also finished with 29 assists and added 13 digs, tying Sydney Pingitore (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) for team honors in the latter category.

Lakeland finished the day with a 1-1 record after also facing Central (Iowa) College later in the afternoon. The Dutch outlasted the Muskies for a five-set win by a 25-15, 24-26, 25-21, 12-25, 15-12 score.

Lakeland (13-13 overall) got off to a slow start in the first set when Central (13-10 overall) finished the set scoring 10 of the final 11 points. The Muskies turned the tables in the second set, though, coming back from a 24-18 deficit and fighting off six set points with freshman Emily Duchow (Potter, Wis.) on serve as Lakeland scored eight straight in all to take the set.

The match settled into a back-and-forth the rest of the way, but Central made the final move. The Muskies led 8-5 in the fifth set when the Dutch went on a 9-3 run to get to match point and closed it out on their second match point.

Bishop finished with 17 kills plus 11 digs and Abby Baumgartner (Jr.-Kewaunee, Wis.) added 10 kills plus 11 digs. Primas finished with 18 assists plus 16 digs and Duchow added 11 assists and five digs in her first varsity action.

Pingitore also finished with a team-high 21 digs plus four service aces. Natalie Borman (Jr.-Harvard, Ill.) also added five kills plus a team-high five blocks (one solo, four assisted).

The Muskies next face Wisconsin Lutheran College in another important conference match Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium. Lakeland and WLC are tied in the conference standings with matching 7-1 records in the NACC.