PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University women's volleyball team started strong but Edgewood College took control after the first set and defeated the Muskies in four sets in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match Tuesday night at the Woltzen Gymnasium.
The Eagles prevailed 21-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-13 in a battle for position in the NACC standings. Edgewood moves in front of Lakeland at 4-1 in conference (9-7 overall), while the Muskies dropped to 3-2 in the NACC and 9-10 overall.
The Eagles served and blocked their way to success after the first set. Edgewood finished with 14 service aces and ten team blocks, with all of the aces and all but one of the blocks coming over the final three sets.
Lakeland got off to a good start hitting .300 with 12 kills and just three errors in never trailing in the first set, but would never approach that number again. The Muskies hit .059 in the second set, .154 in the third and a negative mark with seven kills and eight errors (-.030 attack percentage) in the fourth.
Edgewood never trailed in winning the second set and trailed just once briefly in the third set in building a 22-13 lead. Lakeland briefly gained momentum back with seven straight points, six served by
Jaylin Urrutia (
Fr.-San Antonio, Texas) including an ace plus two kills each by
Katie Metzler (
Jr.-Kewaunee, Wis.) and
Emily Bird (
Waterford, Wis.).
The Eagles came back to finish off the third set, but the Muskies led early in the fourth and trailed just 9-8 after an Edgewood attack error. The guests would score nine of the next ten points, though, and then finished the match with the final five points including back-to-back service aces by Abbey Maier to get to match point and a kill by Abbey Falk to close it out.
Susana Stevens (
So.-Las Cruces, N.M.) finished with ten kills, including five in the opening set, and Metzler and
Brelynn Scoles (
Jr.-Kewaskum, Wis.) added seven kills each.
Emily Duchow (
Sr.-Potter, Wis.) posted 22 assists and a team-high 12 digs and
Roseily Carrasquillo (
So.-Yabucoa, Puerto Rico) added ten digs and eight assists. Metzler and Stevens also finished with four blocks each.
Edgewood and Lakeland posted nearly identical hitting marks for the match, with the Eagles hitting .120 with 42 kills and 26 errors in 133 attacks and the Muskies at .120 with the same number of kills and errors in 136 swings. Abigail Hoffmann led Edgewood with 11 kills and added 12 assists and ten digs. Hoffmann also added five service aces and four block assists, while Falk also finished with eight kills and six blocks.
Lakeland goes on the road this weekend starting with a trip to face Aurora University Friday night at 7 p.m. in Aurora, Ill.
