PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Backs to the wall in the deciding fifth set, the Lakeland University women's volleyball team put together an improbable rally and came all the way back to vanquish an 11-year losing streak to a rival, defeating Concordia University Wisconsin in five sets Thursday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies defeated the Falcons 25-13, 26-28, 25-15, 12-25, 17-15 in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match lasting more than two hours in front of a noisy home crowd. Lakeland snapped a 13-match losing streak to Concordia with its first win in the series since 2013, and the Muskies also improved to 2-0 in conference this year (4-11 overall).

The marathon match featured a number of ebbs and flows, but as the fifth set neared its end the outlook for Lakeland was dim. The Falcons scored the first seven points of the fifth set, and after a Muskies service error CUW led 11-3, just four points away from clinching the match.

A Lakeland attack that was cooking for the first three sets had fizzled in the fourth and fifth sets, to the point where the Muskies recorded exactly two kills over a stretch of 57 points between the teams. The drought that started in the fourth set continued well into the fifth, but Lakeland leaned on defense to keep points alive and managed three straight points on Concordia attack errors to crawl back within 11-6. The Falcons recorded a kill to get within three points of closing the match out, and the teams traded points to give CUW a 13-7 lead.

The Muskies finally registered their first kill of the set to get within 13-8, but it took a never-quit point in which the teams went back-and-forth over the net 13 times in all in one of the night's longest rallies before Bailey Pearson (Jr.-Niagara, Wis.) registered her first kill of the match. That point proved to be a spark as Lakeland scored five more in a row to come all the way back to tie. Susana Stevens (Sr.-Las Cruces, N.M.) delivered two kills as part of another huge hitting performance, Rylee Esquibel (Fr.-Devine, Texas) added an ace and a Falcons attack error tied the set at 13-13.

Concordia (6-9 overall, 1-1 NACC) received a kill from Mickenzi Benter to earn the first match point, but then followed that up with an error to knot the score again at 14-14. The Falcons got a second match point at 15-14 after a Lakeland hitting error, but Stevens then took charge. The senior registered a kill to tie again, then a solo block to give the Muskies their first match point, and then closed it out with a kill going down inside the back line to win it.

Lakeland dominated the first and third sets of the match, and also rallied from seven points down in the second set to get to a set point. Stevens posted seven of her career-high tying 21 kills in the second set alone, and her kill gave the Muskies a 26-25 lead, but the Falcons scored the final three points, including back-to-back service aces to finish the set.

Lakeland came back to dominate the third set, jumping to an early 8-1 lead and pulling away again after Concordia made things interesting midway through the set. The Muskies hit .522 in the third with 12 kills without an error in 23 attacks, and at that point Lakeland had a massive hitting advantage, hitting .277 over the first three sets to the Falcons' paltry .054 mark, but CUW came back to hit .406 in the fourth set with 16 kills and just three errors, setting the stage for the wild fifth set.

Stevens matched her career high of 21 kills set last week in the Muskies' win over Benedictine, and she posted nearly half of Lakeland's 46 kills. Briuna Harper (Sr.-Waxahachie, Texas) and Caitlyn Pernsteiner (So.-Arpin, Wis.) both added six kills each.

Esquibel added five kills plus 18 digs and a match-high six service aces. Ryan Figi (So.-Hartland, Wis.) also finished with 18 digs and Sydney Gay (Fr.-Rice Lake, Wis.) finished with 32 assists. Roseily Carrasquillo (Sr.-Yabucoa, Puerto Rico) also posted five digs over the final two sets, including four in the final set.

Skylar Kumprey finished with 12 kills to lead four Concordia hitters with at least 10 kills. McKenna Oetzman added 21 assists and 20 digs. The Falcons stayed in the match early with their success serving, finishing the match with 16 service aces as a team.

The Muskies are back in action Saturday at the River City Classic hosted by the University of Dubuque in Dubuque, Iowa. Lakeland opens at 12:30 p.m. against Millikin (Ill.) University, taking on the team ranked No. 11 in the latest AVCA/NCAA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Muskies then will face host Dubuque at 3 p.m.