DE PERE, Wis. – St. Norbert College rallied to score the final four points of the fourth set and dealt the Lakeland University men's volleyball team a stinging defeat in a four-set match Wednesday night in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play.
The Green Knights pulled out a 25-19, 15-25, 25-23, 25-23 win to defeat the Muskies for the first time in the schools' three meetings. Lakeland dropped its fifth straight match and is 6-11 overall and 3-8 in the NACC with one final match remaining against Illinois Institute of Technology Friday night at home.
The Muskies held a late lead and were two points away from winning both the third and fourth sets. Lakeland led 23-22 late in the third set before the Green Knights (7-14 overall, 3-8 NACC) scored the final three points, including a kill by Owen Knezevich and a pair of Muskies attack errors.
Lakeland trailed much of the fourth set but came back to tie late and later took a two-point lead on two occasions, the second time at 23-21 after a kill by
Cameron Ekum (
Sr.-Wales, Wis.). A Muskies service error trimmed the lead to one and a St. Norbert service ace tied the score at 23-23. The Green Knights then received a kill from Jackson Corcoran to get to match point, and after a Lakeland timeout the hosts closed it out with a kill by Jake Krueger.
The Muskies received a career-high 13 kills from
Colin Kenney (
So.-Shorewood, Wis.), including nine in the first two sets, five coming in the second set when Lakeland rebounded from a slow start in the opening set to tie the match. Ekum also added 12 kills plus 16 assists and two service aces.
Matt Misheck (
Sr.-Oak Forest, Ill.) and
Ben Busalacchi (
So.-Muskego, Wis.) both also added six kills and three service aces each.
Alex Burgos (
Jr.-Salem, Wis.) led the back row defense with ten digs and
Tim Matijevic (
So.-Palatine, Ill.) finished with four blocks (one solo, three assisted).
The Muskies outhit St. Norbert with 39 kills and a .159 attack percentage to the Green Knights' 34 kills and .090 hitting percentage. Lakeland also added ten service aces and eight blocks, but committed 21 service errors.
Knezevich led the St. Norbert attack with nine kills and Krueger added eight kills. Eddie Pacula added 11 assists, eight digs and three service aces.
The Muskies wrap up their season Friday night at 7 p.m. against Illinois Tech. It will also be Senior Night with the team's seniors honored before the match, and it will be Jersey Night with fans in attendance encouraged by the team to wear their favorite sports team jersey.
