The Lakeland University women's volleyball team stormed back with a vengeance after a sour finish to the opening set, defeating Benedictine University in four sets Friday night in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies rebounded nicely from an early setback to prevail 17-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-11 on Senior Night. Lakeland pinned Benedictine with its first NACC loss while improving to 3-1 in conference play with a big match on the horizon tomorrow against defending conference champion Aurora University.

The Muskies (9-8 overall) showed their toughness after a rough ending to the first set, when a close duel got away at the end as the Eagles (11-4 overall, 1-1 NACC) scored the final seven points of the set to grab an early lead in the match.

Lakeland responded in a big way at the start of the second set, scoring the first five points and bolting out to an 11-2 lead. The Muskies eventually grew the margin to 11 points in the set and were in control most of the rest of the night, winning the final three sets convincingly.

Lakeland got better as the match went on, hitting .300 in the third set with 13 kills and just four errors and taking it up yet another notch in the fourth set with 15 kills and just errors as part of a .406 hitting percentage. The Muskies finished with a .231 attack percentage for the match with 47 kills and 19 errors in 121 swings.

Abby Baumgartner (Jr.-Kewaunee, Wis.) heated up and finished with 15 kills, while Shannon Bishop (Sr.-River Grove, Ill.) added 12 kills plus 17 digs and Megan Goeser (Jr.-Plymouth, Wis.) finished with eight kills and two blocks. Neenah Primas (Jr.-Oostburg, Wis.) also posted 38 assists and added a pair of blocks, and Erin Iwanski (Sr.-St. Francis, Wis.) also added three kills plus two blocks, including joining Goeser and Primas with thunderous solo blocks.

Sydney Pingitore (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) paced the back row with 19 digs. Natalie Bova (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) also added three service aces and regularly kept Benedictine off balance when she was on serve. The Muskies finished with a 7-3 advantage in service aces for the match.

Benedictine hit at a .143 rate (40 kills, 21 errors) but the Eagles went well downhill after hitting .452 in the first set with 15 kills and just one error. Molly Stock posted 14 kills and Taylor Dunwell added 10 kills.

Lakeland honored seven senior members of the team before the match, including student assistant coach Madison Schweitzer plus six who all got on the court in the game, including Bishop, Bova, Iwanski, Allison Byrne (Luxemburg, Wis.), Danielle Chismarick (Morris, Ill.) and Davan Fleming (Cremona, Alberta, Canada).

The Muskies will face Aurora on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. at the Woltzen Gymnasium.