PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University women's volleyball team took a big step towards hosting a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament match with a three-set sweep of Benedictine University Saturday afternoon at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies had a successful Senior Day that included a 25-20, 26-24, 25-14 victory over the Eagles. Lakeland won its eighth straight match to extend its longest winning streak since 2015 and improved to 14-13 overall and 8-3 in the NACC.

The win also put the Muskies closer to a top-four finish in the NACC, which would guarantee a home match in the NACC Tournament quarterfinals. Lakeland remains in a tie with Concordia University Wisconsin for fourth in the conference at 8-3, but the Muskies hold the tiebreaker over the Falcons and finish their season against Alverno College and Concordia University Chicago, two of the bottom three teams in the NACC standings.

Lakeland earned the win over Benedictine (11-14 overall, 6-5 NACC) by taking control late after being challenged most of the way in all three sets. The Muskies were consistent on the attack and also added nine service aces, including a memorable Senior Day for Amira Szczepanski (Sr.-Fredonia, Wis.) who came off the bench and delivered a career-high five aces in serving specialist duty.

The Muskies showed their mettle in the pivotal second set, coming back after trailing by four points on three occasions early in the set. Lakeland battled back from 10-6 down to tie and begin a battle of side outs that included 12 ties in the set. The Muskies also fought off a set point at 24-23 to score the final three points of the set, including a kill by Sydney Gay (So.-Rice Lake, Wis.) and then another kill by Caitlyn Pernsteiner (Jr.-Arpin, Wis.) to take the set.

Lakeland also finished the opening set with a 9-1 run late to turn a 17-15 deficit into a 24-18 lead and eventual set win, and the Muskies finished up winning the third set going away with a 14-5 run to finish that included eight of the final nine points. Szczepanski served up two more aces in the finishing run, and fellow senior D'Janae Gilley (El Paso, Texas) came on late and sent home the kill on match point to close out the win.

Maleigha Kovalaske (So.-Ripon, Wis.) and Samya Hughes (Fr.-Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) both notched 14 kills each, including Kovalaske hitting .542 with just one error in 24 attacks and also adding a team-high 13 digs. Pernsteiner also added eight kills and a .500 hitting percentage that included just one error and Gay posted 40 assists plus nine digs.

The Muskies finished hitting .284 for the match with 46 kills and 15 errors, well ahead of Benedictine's .118 mark that included 25 kills and 14 errors. Sophia Sommesi led the Eagles with 11 kills and 10 digs and Brooke Wisniewski added 10 digs.

The match was the final regular season match at home for seven Lakeland seniors: Gilley, Szczepanski, Katelyn Kitsembel (Lake Mills, Wis.), Bailey Pearson (Niagara, Wis.), Kaitlyn Ramirez (El Paso, Texas), Olivia Swenson (Seymour, Wis.) and Lucero Velazquez (Sheboygan, Wis.).

The Muskies finish the regular season with two matches on the road, including at Alverno this Thursday at 7 p.m. in Milwaukee.