2019 NACC WVB Tournament Bracket

MEQUON – Concordia University Wisconsin set a torrid hitting pace the final three sets and the Lakeland University women's volleyball team saw its season end in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament semifinals with a four-set loss Thursday night at the R. John Buuck Fieldhouse.

The No. 3 seed Muskies bolted out to a quick lead in the match with a superb start, but the Falcons came back for an 18-25, 25-19, 25-10, 25-13 victory in a battle of two of the NACC's three regular season co-champions. Lakeland's season ended in the NACC semifinals for the second straight year, while second-seeeded Concordia advanced to the championship match Saturday night against top seed Aurora University, which tamed No. 4 seed Dominican University in three sets Thursday.

The match story for the Muskies (19-15 overall) was similar to their first matchup against the Falcons much earlier in the season. The matches were played 51 days apart, with the first meeting serving as both teams' conference regular season opener, but in both cases Lakeland got off to an ideal start before Concordia rallied to win the final three sets in increasingly convincing fashion.

The visiting Muskies never trailed in winning Thursday's first set, building a 13-5 lead at the midpoint and leading by as many as 10 in the set. The Falcons (22-8 overall) hit - .030 in the set with six kills and seven errors, which gave little indication of how well they would play the rest of the way.

Concordia hit at least .281 each of the final three sets, including .292 in the second set and a smoking .483 in the third. The Falcons also were able to sideout at an 80% rate the final three sets.

The Muskies hit a respectable .213 in the second set with 12 kills and only two errors, but struggled the rest of the way. Lakeland hit .040 with just four kills in the third set and dropped to -.097 in the fourth with six kills but nine errors.

Gabby Pavlik (14 kills), Sophia Collins (13) and Jenna Chaussee (10) all posted at least 10 kills to lead the CUW attack. The Falcons finished hitting .254 with 55 kills and 19 errors, while the Muskies hit .084 with 30 kills and 19 errors. Concordia also finished with a 10-5 advantage in service aces, negating an advantage Lakeland frequently held on serve this season.

Shannon Bishop (Sr.-River Grove, Ill.) finished her career with 13 kills plus 14 digs, leading the team in both categories. Megan Goeser (Jr.-Plymouth, Wis.) also added eight kills plus three blocks (one solo, two assisted), but no other Lakeland player finished with more than three kills.

Sydney Pingitore (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) finished with 12 digs plus three service aces and Abby Baumgartner (Jr.-Kewaunee, Wis.) added 11 digs and two aces. Neenah Primas (Jr.-Oostburg, Wis.) also led the Muskies with 27 assists.

The match was the final one for five Lakeland players, including Bishop, Natalie Bova (Chicago, Ill.), Allison Byrne (Luxemburg, Wis.), Danielle Chismarick (Morris, Ill.) and Erin Iwanski (St. Francis, Wis.).