PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's volleyball team faced a tough assignment in its season finale and fell to nationally-ranked Dominican University in three sets Friday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies fell by scores of 25-11, 25-18 and 25-17 in their season finale and on Senior Night for four members of the team. Lakeland finishes its season 3-9 overall and 2-7 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, while Dominican won its tenth match in a row to improve to 14-1 overall and 10-1 in conference heading into the NACC Tournament.

The Muskies honored four seniors prior to the match, as Timothy Cha (West Allis, Wis.), Cameron Ekum (Wales, Wis.), Matt Misheck (Sr.-Oak Forest, Ill.) and Maui Viola (Gurnee, Ill.) all played for the final time at home. The quartet ran into one of the hottest teams in the country in NCAA Division, but Lakeland fought hard against the No. 3 ranked team in the latest NVA/AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll, especially challenging the Stars in the second and third sets.

Dominican came out red hot with a fierce attack, hitting .647 in the opening set and building a 16-2 lead minutes into the match. The Muskies started to find their footing late in the first set and started off better in set two, taking an 8-4 lead early on.

Dominican came back to tie the set at 11-11 and the two teams battled back and forth from there. Tim Matijevic (Fr.-Palatine, Ill.) and Nick Equihua (So.-Santa Maria, Calif.) blocked a Dominican attack to take a 17-16 lead, but Dominican closed the set on a 9-1 run to take a commanding 2-0 lead.

Lakeland got off to another good start in the third set, opening on a 7-2 run that included two-straight service aces from Matijevic. After falling behind 10-5, however, the Stars went on another 9-1 run to jolt out to a 14-11 lead and never looked back in a 25-17 win to end the match.

Dominican finished with a .286 hitting percentage with 29 kills and 11 errors. The Stars also recorded nine team blocks and were even stronger on serve with with 13 aces.

Misheck led Lakeland with five kills and four digs and tied for the team aces lead with Matijevic and Ben Busalacchi (Fr.-Muskego, Wis.) as the trio served two aces each. Equihua added two blocks and Martin Carrillo (So.-Mundelein, Ill.) had a team-high eight assists.

Ekum finishes his career as the Lakeland varsity program's all-time career leader in service aces with 83 and ranks second in assists, while Misheck also finished in the top five in aces.