2019 NACC WVB Tournament Bracket

Taking care of its own business and receiving some unexpected help on the final day of the conference regular season, the Lakeland University women's volleyball team won its first Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season title in 10 years Wednesday night.

The Muskies defeated Milwaukee School of Engineering in four sets in their final home match of the regular season, finishing at 10-2 on the conference loop this season. The night also saw previous co-leaders Aurora University and Concordia University Wisconsin both lose their final conference matches Wednesday, meaning Lakeland, Aurora and Concordia Wisconsin all finished in a three-way tie for the regular season title.

The night's results left Lakeland as the No. 3 seed in next week's NACC Tournament, as the Muskies lost tiebreakers with both Aurora and CUW. Lakeland will host No. 6 seed Benedictine University Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the tournament first round, with the winner facing second-seeded Concordia in the semifinals next Thursday.

The Muskies actually would've finished with a better seed in the conference tourney if they had finished in a tie with Concordia for second, but instead "settled" for their first league title since 2009, when they also shared the NACC regular season crown. It might've been a fitting outcome for a wacky night that didn't always come out as expected but where the end results were still a net positive.

Lakeland's 25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 25-15 win over MSOE was hardly a work of art, for the Muskies struggled considerably at times. The second and third sets in particular were a struggle, as the Raiders led most of the way in both.

It took a power move late in the second set for Lakeland to win one of those two sets. The Muskies trailed 19-14 late in the second before running off eight straight points, including six coming from MSOE attack errors. Allison Byrne (Sr.-Luxemburg, Wis.) was on serve throughount-one of several long service runs for her on the night-and Lakeland held on to win the set with a service ace by Neenah Primas (Jr.-Oostburg, Wis.) on set point.

Lakeland (16-14 overall) was in a big hole in the third set again, trailing 19-13 before firing back with six straight points, including two aces from Shannon Bishop (Sr.-River Grove, Ill.), and eventually taking a 23-22 lead. Just two points away from victory, the Muskies couldn't close it out as MSOE scored the final three points of the set to extend the match.

Lakeland closed out with a strong fourth set, jumping to a quick lead and never letting MSOE (9-21 overall) rally. Emily Bringer (So.-Round Lake, Ill.) finished with three kills in the set off the bench as the Muskies led by as many as 13 in the set.

Megan Goeser (Jr.-Plymouth, Wis.) led Lakeland with 12 kills and just one error in 21 attacks for a .524 hitting percentage. Bishop added 11 kills plus four aces and Abby Baumgartner (Jr.-Kewaunee, Wis.) chipped in 10 kills plus 11 digs.

Sydney Pingitore (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) also posted 15 digs plus three aces. Primas also finished with 30 assists and 11 digs.

Megan Brock paced MSOE with 13 kills and Quinn Borchert added 11 kills. Italia Fields also posted a match-high 18 digs.

The regular season championship is Lakeland's fourth as a member of the NACC. The first three times, the Muskies also won the conference tournament, and in 2008 and 2009 went on to the NCAA Division III Tournament.