Edgewood College Eagles (2-5 overall, 2-4 NACC North)
at Lakeland University Muskies (2-5 overall, 2-4 NACC North)
Thursday, April 1, 2021 5 p.m.
Woltzen Gymnasium
Lakeland/Edgewood Game Notes PDF
A pair of regular women's volleyball rivals are battling for position in the NACC North Division standings when Lakeland University hosts Edgewood College for a doubleheader Thursday night starting at 5 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
Fan attendance policy: Lakeland University is permitting 75 spectators at Thursday night's matches, limited to current Lakeland faculty, staff and students. For more information visit
https://lakelandmuskies.com/sports/2021/3/11/covid-19-fan-policies.aspx. Off-campus spectators are not permitted.
Broadcast Information: Live video and statistics for all Lakeland women's volleyball home matches are available at
http://www.lakelandmuskies.com/muskieslive.
Series history: All-time records are incomplete, but this is the 51st meeting between Lakeland and Edgewood since 1991. The Muskies hold a 30-20 lead in the series in that time and have won the last three meetings, including most recently a three-set sweep at Edgewood on Oct. 19, 2019. Before Lakeland's current run, the Eagles had won the previous 10 matchups in the series, sweeping every match from 2010-16, the last coming with a three-set sweep here at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium on Oct. 11, 2016. The series has been dominated by some long streaks; prior to Edgewood's recent streak, Lakeland had won 18 straight over the Eagles from 2000-09.
Lakeland last time out: Lost at Wisconsin Lutheran 3-1 and 3-0 Sunday
The Muskies saw their hopes of a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference North Division crown fade with a pair of losses to the Warriors on Sunday. Wisconsin Lutheran won the first match in four (25-18, 23-25, 27-25, 25-23) and then swept to a 25-13, 25-19, 25-23 win in the second match.
Abby Baumgartner set a career high in the opener with 20 kills, carrying the offense with nearly two-thirds of Lakeland's 31 kills.
Neenah Primas also piled up 43 assists and four service aces and
Sydney Pingitore added 33 digs. The Muskies struggled at the outset of the second match before nearly taking the third set, but a .087 attack percentage plus 13 WLC service aces spelled trouble in the loss.
Edgewood last time out: Lost to Concordia Wisconsin 3-1 and 3-1 Sunday
The Eagles played a pair of close matches at home with the NACC North-leading Falcons but lost the first 25-22, 25-23, 25-27, 25-20 and the second by a 20-25, 26-24, 25-22, 25-17 count. Mackenzie Doherty led Edgewood with 22 kills over the two matches and Abbey Maier also added 19 kills on the day. The Eagles also were effective on serve with 22 aces on the afternoon led by Brittany Sager's seven. Sarah Uczen also added 28 digs.
About the Eagles: Edgewood has a young roster dominated by freshmen and sophomores and is in direct competition with Lakeland for a spot in the NACC divisional playoffs, as the two enter Thursday with the exact same records in division and overall. Both are also tied with Marian in a three-way tie for third place, with the top four in the very competitive division advancing to the postseason. Edgewood and Lakeland already both hold the advantage in head-to-head tiebreakers with Marian after both swept the Sabres. The Eagles just missed the six-team NACC tourney in the 2019 season with a 7-5 conference mark, but have been perennially a good team under 15th-year head coach Paul Schlomer and most recently won the NACC regular season title in 2015.
Muskies NACC, NCAA leaders: Lakeland has several individuals who have piled up gaudy individual numbers in this short season.
Abby Baumgartner enters tonight leading the conference in total kills (96) along with ranking fourth in kills per set (3.43), while
Neenah Primas leads the conference with 252 total assists along with ranking second in the conference in assists per set (9.00).
Sydney Pingitore also leads the NACC in total digs (176) and digs per set, and she ranked 15th in the most recent NCAA Division III national statistical report in digs per set, and her number in that report from March 25 (5.88) has gone up to 6.21 digs/set entering tonight.
