MEQUON, Wis. – Brelynn Scoles (Jr.-Kewaskum, Wis.) nearly set a new school record for kills in a match and the Lakeland University women's volleyball team put a huge scare into Concordia University Wisconsin before falling in five sets Wednesday night at the R. John Buuck Fieldhouse.

The Muskies fell in five long sets, with Concordia finally prevailing 26-28, 26-24, 25-22, 24-26, 15-11. The Falcons clinched a share of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season title and wrapped up the top seed in the NACC Tournament, while Lakeland dropped to 15-13 overall and finishes 8-5 on its conference schedule.

Scoles hammered home a career-high 24 kills, tied for the second-most in a match in school history. She finished one kill off the school record of 25 kills set by Pam Adleman back in 1996 against Maranatha Baptist, before the NCAA adopted the rally scoring format in 2001.

A high-level match throughout saw both teams hit at a high rate, with Concordia (18-7 overall, 12-1 NACC) attacking at a .261 clip for the match and Lakeland not far behind at a .251 rate. The teams also combined for 44 ties and 16 lead changes over five sets, with three sets going past the 25-point mark before being decided.

The Muskies won a long first set, staving off a set point for CUW at 24-23 and clinching it on a kill by Susana Stevens (So.-Las Cruces, N.M.) to finish the set. Lakeland saved a set point in the second set before a service error followed by an ace by Emma Essex to even the match at 1-1.

The Muskies will rue the third set as a missed chance, as they led 22-20 late after back-to-back kills by Scoles. Concordia would score five straight to finish the set, including three kills from Maycee Karpfinger, the last one giving the Falcons the lead in the match.

Lakeland nearly let the fourth set slip away, leading 24-20 before CUW came back to tie at 24-all, but the Falcons committed a pair of attack errors to close the set and send to the tiebreaking fifth. Concordia came out strong, though, scoring five of the first six points, and the Muskies got no closer than two points the rest of the way, the last time at 11-9 after a block by Stevens and Katie Metzler (Jr.-Kewaunee, Wis.).

Scoles hit .311 for the match and with her 24 kills tied three others for the second-most kills in the match in Lakeland history. The most recent to reach the mark was Katie Freitag against Rockford University Oct. 18, 2013, while Theresa Falk also accomplished it twice, first Nov. 4, 1999 against Wisconsin Lutheran College and again Sept. 15, 2001 versus Benedictine University.

Stevens also added 17 kills and Metzler finished with 14 kills. Emily Duchow (Sr.-Potter, Wis.) set career highs with 59 assists and 21 digs, and Maeve Sullivan (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) also tied for honors with 21 digs. Freshman Jaylin Urrutia (San Antonio, Texas) also added a career-best 14 digs and Metzler led Lakeland at the net with five blocks (one solo, four assisted).

Karpfinger led Concordia with 21 kills and Sophia Collins added 20 kills. Abby Proefrock led the Falcons with 21 digs. The Muskies and Falcons could meet again in the NACC Tournament semifinals, as Lakeland will be the tourney's fifth seed and will take on No. 4 seed St. Norbert College in the first round Tuesday, with the winner advancing to face Concordia Thursday in the semis.

The Muskies close their regular season Saturday when they travel to take on Loras (Iowa) College for a non-conference match at 4 p.m. in Dubuque, Iowa.