PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Illinois Institute of Technology scored four straight points in a deciding run late in the fourth set and the Lakeland University men's volleyball team fell in its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener Sunday afternoon at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Scarlet Hawks completed a 25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 25-20 win over the Muskies, continuing their success in recent years against the Muskies. Illinois Tech defeated Lakeland for the fourth straight time to even the all-time series between the schools at 4-4.

The teams played a match that was close virtually the entire way. Lakeland (6-7 overall) even finished with a slight advantage in kills accumulated (50 to 48), but IIT (4-8 overall, 2-1 NACC) finished with a 6-2 edge in service aces and an 8-3 lead in blocks.

The Scarlet Hawks also hit .250 as a team with 48 kills to 19 errors, and that included a .500 hitting mark in the final set. Illinois Tech posted 16 kills to just one error in the fourth set and never trailed in the whole set.

The Muskies still made several runs, closing within one point on a number of occasions. The last time came on a kill by Ben Busalacchi (Sr.-Muskego, Wis.) to make it 18-17 after an 8-4 run by Lakeland after trailing 14-9 just past the midway point of the set.

The Scarlet Hawks answered with the next four points, though, including three straight kills by Bryan Evans. The Muskies would never get closer than four points again, with the match ending on an attack by Colin Kenney (Sr.-Shorewood, Wis.) that went through the IIT block but was ruled to not be touched, giving Tech the final point.

The Muskies closed out a 25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 25-15 win over the Bluejays in the first-ever meeting between the programs. Lakeland finishes its non-conference schedule with a 6-6 record heading into its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener Sunday at home against Illinois Institute of Technology.

The Muskies played from slightly behind for much of the match, but came back from a late 22-18 deficit in the second set to win after Jakob Donohue (Jr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) posted three kills late and Sage Xiong (Fr.-Erie, Colo.) delivered a kill on Lakeland's second set point.

The Muskies also nearly came back in the third set, trailing 23-19 before scoring three straight points, including a kill by Busalacchi and a block by Busalacchi and Chase Anderson (Jr.-Hartford, Wis.). Lakeland also saved one set point to get within 24-23 but a blocking error was called to give Illinois Tech the final point and the 2-1 lead in the match.

Xiong led the Muskies with 14 kills and Donohue and Levi Everts (Sr.-Hartford, Wis.) added eight kills each. Kenney also finished with seven kills after coming off the bench in the second set, Anderson totaled four kills plus 41 assists and Eli Weinrich (Jr.-Mequon, Wis.) led Lakeland with 11 digs.

Lakeland hit .184 as a team with 50 kills and 25 errors. The Muskies also had 20 service errors to just two aces.

Colten Farrell led Illinois Tech with 11 kills without an error in 15 attacks for a .733 hitting percentage from the middle. Riley Laite added 10 kills and Paul Henderson finished with seven kills plus three aces.

The Muskies are on the road for their next match Wednesday when they travel to face Marian University at 6 p.m. in Fond du Lac.