The Lakeland University men's volleyball team faced a pair of top-five nationally ranked teams on its first Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference road trip of the season and finished with a pair of losses this weekend in the Chicago area.

The Muskies were swept by Benedictine University 30-28, 25-17, 25-18 Friday night in Lisle, Ill., and then lost to Dominican University 25-17, 25-16, 25-20 on Saturday in River Forest, Ill. Benedictine entered the game ranked fifth in the AVCA/NCAA Division III Top 15 Coaches Poll, and Dominican was even higher-ranked at No. 3 in the poll, the highest rank ever for an NACC team in the league's two years sponsoring the sport.

Lakeland (4-6 overall, 1-3 NACC) had a golden opportunity to get the weekend off to a good start when it rallied late in the first set at Benedictine (9-1 overall, 2-0 NACC) to earn four set points. The Eagles saved all four points, though, and then finished off the win with their 30th point.

The Muskies never would get another chance like that so late in a set the rest of the weekend. Lakeland never led again in the Benedictine match, and Dominican (9-1 overall, 4-0 NACC) finished all three sets strong, including a 7-2 run to finish the third set.

Nathan Vanderwaal (Jr.-Rockford, Ill.) piled up a career-high 14 kills against Benedictine on Friday, while Matt Misheck (So.-Oak Forest, Ill.) added 11 kills and Cameron Ekum (So.-Mukwonago, Wis.) piled up 35 assists.

Misheck also paced the team with nine kills against Dominican, Ekum finished with 20 assists and J.T. Levitt (Sr.-Schaumburg, Ill.) finished with 11 digs. Desmond Williams (Sr.-Riverside, Calif.) also added six blocks plus four block assists.

Lakeland is on the road again on Wednesday when it travels west on Highway 23 to face Marian University at 7 p.m. in Fond du Lac.