PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's volleyball team continued its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference season-long trend of playing opponents close but coming up short, falling to Concordia University Chicago in four sets Saturday at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
Concordia prevailed 25-23, 24-26, 25-18, 25-12, putting a damper on the Muskies' Senior Day. Lakeland (7-15 overall, 1-9 NACC) won at least one set for the eighth time in 10 conference matches but lost in four sets for the seventh time in NACC play.
The match was the final one for four Muskies seniors:
Ben Busalacchi (
Muskego, Wis.),
Levi Everts (
Hartford, Wis.),
Colin Kenney (
Shorewood, Wis.) and
Drake Schleihs (
Appleton, Wis.).The Muskies came out strong in the first two sets, too, including rallying from set point to take the second set. Lakeland faded in the final two sets, though, hitting just .057 in sets three and four after a solid .262 mark in the first two sets.
The Muskies' best moment came at the end of a second set that included seven ties and which Lakeland never led until a block by Everts and
Jordan Davis-Troller (
Jr.-Cottage Grove, Wis.) and made it 25-24, just after a kill by Davis-Troller had saved set point.
Eli Weinrich (
Jr.-Mequon, Wis.) then delivered a kill from the back row to win the set for the Muskies and tie the match at 1-1.
Weinrich set a season high with 12 kills and hit .364 for the match. He also led Lakeland with 12 digs. Everts also posted 10 kills and seven digs and Busalacchi finished with seven kills and seven digs.
Davis-Troller also added five kills and led the team with five blocks (one solo, four assisted). The Muskies hit .167 for the match with 41 kills and 22 errors, finished with seven blocks as a team, but could generate little on serve with two service aces and 19 errors.
Tyler Holubek led Concordia Chicago (11-13 overall, 5-5 NACC) with 15 kills and Alexander Ford added 10 kills. The Cougars hit .303 as a team with 50 kills and 17 errors, including a .545 mark in the fourth set that included 14 kills and two errors.
Lakeland closes out its season with a pair of NACC road matches, including Wednesday when it travels to face Milwaukee School of Engineering at 7 p.m. in Milwaukee.
