FOND DU LAC – The Lakeland University men's volleyball team showed it will be a dangerous team in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament, going on the road for a three-set sweep of Marian University Tuesday night in the tourney's first round.

The fifth-seeded Muskies rolled to an impressive 25-23, 25-17, 25-23 win over the No. 4 seed Sabres. The win advanced Lakeland to the NACC semifinals, where it will face top-seeded Milwaukee School of Engineering Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

The Muskies (14-12 overall) continued to play their best at the end of the season, winning their fifth straight match to clinch an overall winning record for the season. Lakeland also disposed of Marian for the second time in less than two weeks, following up four-set victory over the Sabres at Lakeland March 27.

The Muskies' tandem of Nathan Vanderwaal (Jr.-Rockford, Ill.) and Dakota Hunter (Sr.-Waukesha, Wis.) led an attack that was coldly efficient, hitting at a .298 clip as a team with 39 kills and 11 errors. Vanderwaal posted a match-high 15 kills with just four errors, and Hunter added 10 kills with three errors.

Lakeland led much of the night, never trailing in the second or third set and also coming through at the end of the first set to draw first in the match. Tali Coleman (Sr.-Honolulu, Hawaii) notched a kill and then assisted with Matt Misheck (So.-Oak Forest, Ill.) on a block that ended a first set that saw nine ties.

Coleman finished with five block assists and Misheck added four blocks (one solo, three assisted). The Muskies posted eight blocks as a team, helping hold the Sabres (10-15 overall) to .191 hitting with 31 kills and 14 errors.

Cameron Ekum (So.-Mukwonago, Wis.) finished with 29 assists plus six digs. J.T. Levitt (Sr.-Schaumburg, Ill.) also led with a team-high nine digs.

Jon Smallpage led Marian with nine kills. Cullen Liberski also added a match-high 14 digs.

2019 NACC Men's VB Tournament Bracket