MEQUON, Wis. – The Lakeland University women's volleyball team saw its season come to a close in the first round of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament for the second straight year, falling to Concordia University Wisconsin in three sets Tuesday night at the R. John Buuck Fieldhouse.

The Falcons rallied late to win the first set and rode that momentum the rest of the way to a 25-23, 25-18, 25-18 win. Fourth-seeded Concordia (15-13 overall) advanced to a semifinal match Thursday against top seed Edgewood College, while the Muskies saw their season end with a 15-12 record.

Lakeland's season came to a disappointing end in similar fashion for the second straight year. The Muskies finished the regular season strong and earned the No. 5 seed in the NACC tourney, just as they did a year ago, and faced an opponent in the tourney's first round that they were competitive with in a four-set regular season match.

Lakeland had one of its toughest nights of the season last year in its NACC tourney opener and fell to St. Norbert College in three sets, and this year's match against CUW didn't go much better. The Muskies had won nine of 10 matches entering this year's conference tournament, but hit .104 for the match Tuesday with 29 kills and 19 attack errors for their fifth-lowest hitting mark of the season. The Falcons also posted a big 10-2 advantage in service aces, and the 10 aces also tied for the second-most this season by a Lakeland opponent.

The Muskies still were in excellent position to win the first set, leading by five points on two occasions in the latter stages in the set, including at 19-14 after a CUW setting error. Lakeland still held a 20-16 lead before the Falcons rallied with six straight points to take the lead. Four kills and a service ace gave the hosts the lead, and though the Muskies tied it back up at 22-22 and 23-23, Concordia closed the set out with kills by Paige Stickney and Maycee Karpfinger.

Lakeland led 10-8 early in the second set after a kill by Caitlyn Pernsteiner (Fr.-Arpin, Wis.), but the Falcons would follow with another big run. Three aces were part of an 11-2 burst that included five straight points for a 16-11 lead, plus three more to push the lead to seven at 19-12. The Muskies would never lead again in the match, falling behind 6-1 at the start of the third set and despite battling never getting closer than two points again.

Katie Metzler (Sr.-Kewaunee, Wis.), Kelly Swope (Sr.-Heyworth, Ill.) and Susana Stevens (Jr.-Las Cruces, N.M.) led Lakeland with six kills each with Emily Dickmann (Fr.-Grafton, Wis.) posting 14 assists. Maeve Sullivan (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) led the defense with 10 digs and Metzler added four block assists.

Karpfinger finished with 12 kills to lead Concordia, which hit .204 with 40 kills and 17 errors. Mickenzi Benter finished with 30 assists and three service aces and Stickney added seven kills plus five block assists. CUW won the teams' regular season match in four sets on Sept. 20 by an 18-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-18 count, and has won 13 straight in the series over Lakeland dating back to 2014.

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