Lakeland/Benedictine Match Notes   PDF

Lakeland University begins the drive for its first women's volleyball conference tourney title in 10 years when it hosts Benedictine University Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium in the first round of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament.

The third-seeded and regular season co-champion Muskies carry their highest seed in the NACC tourney since winning the 2009 event as the No. 2 seed. Lakeland's chase for the tourney crown and an NCAA Division III Tournament berth this year begins against the Eagles, the sixth-seeded team in this year's six-team field.

The Muskies (18-14 overall) closed out the regular season with a pair of non-conference wins Saturday afternoon. The Muskies posted a 25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22 victory over host St. Norbert to start the day and then swept Lawrence 25-23, 25-9, 25-22.

Benedictine (20-7 overall) finished up its regular season Friday with two wins, defeating Wheaton (Ill.) in four sets and sweeping NACC foe Rockford in three. Taylor Dunwell finished with 16 kills in the opening match and both Dunwell and Hannah Griffith totaled seven blocks each against Wheaton.

Lakeland won the first meeting with Benedictine this season with a four-set victory at home Oct. 4 on Senior Night. Abby Baumgartner heated up and finished with 15 kills, while Shannon Bishop added 12 kills plus 17 digs and Neenah Primas posted 38 assists.

Live video and live statistics of the match will be available at http://www.lakelandmuskies.com/muskieslive.