The Lakeland University women's volleyball team shook off a slow start to win the first set and cruised from there to defeat Alverno College in three sets Tuesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies finished off a 25-22, 25-17, 25-15 sweep of the Inferno for their first Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference win of the season. Lakeland also improved to 7-8 overall while evening its NACC record at 1-1.

The Muskies played at home for just the second time this season and sputtered out of the gates against the Inferno (1-13 overall, 0-2 NACC). Alverno was stubborn from the start, scoring the first two points of the match and eventually going ahead by four points late in the set at 22-18.

Facing a one-set deficit in the match, Lakeland picked up the pace at the right time, scoring the final seven points of the first set. Shannon Bishop (Sr.-River Grove, Ill.), Neenah Primas (Jr.-Oostburg, Wis.) and Riley Birr (Fr.-Pulaski, Wis.) posted kills in the run and Abby Baumgartner (Jr.-Kewaunee, Wis.) served an ace sandwiched around two Alverno attack errors to close out the set.

The Muskies rolled from there, never trailing in the second set and making a run to take control of the third. Four straight points in the third turned a 6-6 tie into a 10-6 lead, and two more four-point runs in the set allowed the hosts to close out the match in three.

Bishop finished with 14 kills and just three errors in 29 attacks (.379 hitting percentage), including 10 kills over the final two sets. Baumgartner also finished with seven kills and eight digs, Primas dished out 25 assists and Sydney Pingitore (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) led the back row defense with 13 digs.

The Muskies finished hitting at a .241 rate with 34 kills and 13 hitting errors. Lakeland also added nine service aces, including three from Baumgartner and two each from Bishop and Natalie Bova (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.).

Kierra Sherlock led Alverno with eight kills and Morgan Lemner finished with a match-high 16 digs. The Inferno hit .043 with 23 kills and 19 errors.

Lakeland is back on the court Friday when it travels to face Marian University at 7 p.m. in Fond du Lac in another NACC match.