MILWAUKEE – A trio of players stepped up into bigger roles to deliver career highs but the Lakeland University women's volleyball team came up just short in a five-set loss to Milwaukee School of Engineering Tuesday night at the Kern Center.

The Muskies pushed the match to a fifth set but fell 20-25, 25-8, 25-21, 17-25, 15-10 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match. Lakeland dropped to 3-14 overall and is now 2-5 in the NACC and two matches behind the Raiders (15-9 overall, 4-3 NACC) in the conference standings.

With two of the team's top three hitters out due to injury, the Muskies had to stir up the lineup and a number of players had opportunities to step into leading roles. Hailey DeGrave (So.-Sturgeon Bay, Wis.), Isabella Westerholm (Fr.-Prior Lake, Minn.) and Faith Spannbauer (Fr.-Greenfield, Wis.) all set career highs for kills and ensured Lakeland did not lack for firepower against MSOE.

DeGrave finished with 16 kills, setting a career best for the second straight match and hitting .353 with just four errors in 34 attacks. Six of her kills came in the fourth set, including four in the late going as Lakeland scored the final eight points of the set to extend the match to a tiebreaking fifth set.

The Muskies just couldn't duplicate that hot run in the fifth set, though, as the Raiders held the upper hand from the start. MSOE scored the first point with a block and after a kill by Spannbauer, the hosts scored three straight points for a 4-1 lead.

MSOE eventually pushed out to a 10-4 advantage before Lakeland made a final push, with a kill by DeGrave and aces by Emily Duchow (Jr.-Potter, Wis.) and Maeve Sullivan (So.-Chicago, Ill.) part of a 5-1 run to get within 11-9. The Raiders rebounded to earn a side out and would finish scoring four of the final five points to clinch the match.

Westerholm and Kelly Swope (So.-Heyworth, Ill.) both added 11 kills for the match, including the freshman shattering her season-best for kills. Spannbauer also added a season-high eight kills plus four blocks (one solo, three assisted).

Duchow led the setters with 22 assists and added seven digs and Roseily Carrasquillo (Fr.-Yabucoa, Puerto Rico) added 19 assists and seven digs. Sydney Pingitore (Sr.-Kenosha, Wis.) paced the back row with 23 digs and Sullivan added 16 digs. Pingitore late in the match also became the 15th player in program history to top the 1,000-dig mark and has 1,004 career digs.

Quinn Borchert led MSOE with 14 kills and seven blocks (one solo, six assisted) and Italia Fields added 13 kills plus 22 digs. Bekah Smith also added 22 digs and Amanda Yackley posted 36 assists.

The Muskies are home again Friday when they welcome new NACC member St. Norbert College for a 7 p.m. start at the Woltzen Gymnasium.