2019 NACC WVB Tournament Bracket

The Lakeland University women's volleyball team passed its first test in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament, sweeping Benedictine University in three sets in the tourney's first round Tuesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies topped the sixth-seeded Eagles 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 to advance to the tourney semifinals Thursday. No. 3 seed Lakeland now will travel to second-seeded Concordia University Wisconsin for a match Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Mequon that will match two of the NACC's three co-champions in the regular season.

The Muskies (19-14 overall) took care of business in defeating the Eagles for the second time this season. Lakeland got off to a good start, weathered a brief injury scare in the first set and also responded late after trailing midway through the third set.

Lakeland never trailed in the first or second set, jumping out to 3-0 leads in both and committing a combined four errors over the two sets, hitting .328 over the first two sets. Erin Iwanski (Sr.-St. Francis, Wis.) notched four kills in the first set, and freshman Emily Duchow (Potter, Wis.) made key plays in both sets, including in a pinch in the first set.

The Muskies led 12-5 early but received a scare when setter Neenah Primas (Jr.-Oostburg, Wis.) went down under the net with an injury. Duchow came off the bench and helped Lakeland stay afloat until Primas re-entered at 14-10. Duchow also was on serve during a five-point run that broke open a close second set, with a dig and a service ace as Lakeland turned a one-point game into a 20-14 lead.

The Eagles (20-8 overall) took their first lead of the match at the start of the third set and then staged a rally from a 9-5 deficit, coming back to take a 13-12 lead. Shannon Bishop (Sr.-River Grove, Ill.) and Sydney Pingitore (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) led a six-point run, though, with Bishop posting three kills and Pingitore delivering back-to-back aces. The Muskies never trailed again and finished the match on a 6-1 run after Benedictine had closed within a point at 19-18.

Bishop finished with 11 kills and Abby Baumgartner (Jr.-Kewaunee, Wis.) added eight kills plus a match-high 12 digs. Pingitore also finished with 11 digs and three aces and Primas totaled with 26 assists.

Lakeland finished hitting .256 for the match with 35 kills and 12 attack errors. The Muskies also posted seven service aces.

Taylor Dunwell and Molly Stock both finished with 10 kills for Benedictine, which hit .135 as a team with 36 kills but 22 errors in 104 swings. Hayley Primas, twin sister of Lakeland's Neenah Primas, led the Eagles with 10 digs and Alyssa Mojica notched 30 assists.

Both higher seeds won their matches Tuesday night in the NACC Tournament, as No. 4 Dominican University ousted No. 5 Wisconsin Lutheran College in four sets, advancing to face top seed Aurora University Thursday night.