PLYMOUTH, Wis. – North Park (Ill.) University saved some of its best play for late and defeated the Lakeland University men's volleyball team in four sets Tuesday night at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
The Vikings prevailed 29-27, 15-25, 25-22, 25-20 in the non-conference meeting between the schools in a long match that went past two hours even in just four sets. North Park avenged a three-set loss to the Muskies last year and earned its first win of the season (1-3 overall), while Lakeland dropped to 3-5 overall.
The Muskies started strong, leading much of the first set and taking the second set going away before struggling on the attack in the final two sets. North Park, on the other hand, used a fast start to get an early edge in the third set and then had its best set in the fourth, posting a .382 attack percentage with 15 kills to just two errors, and also adding five blocks in the fourth.
The teams were tied at 7-7 in the fourth when the Vikings began gradually pulling away, going on an 11-5 run to take control. The Muskies didn't get closer than four points to North Park again until finally at 23-20 after an NPU attack error, but a kill from the back row by Gerald Buhain Malana got the Vikings to match point, and Nolan Edkin served an ace to finish it out.
The most competitive set of the night was the first, which took 34 minutes and saw North Park come back after trailing by four points late. Lakeland took an 8-4 lead early in the set after a 4-0 run included a pair of service aces by
Colin Putchinski (
Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.), and the Muskies were still ahead 17-13 when the Vikings answered with four straight to tie it at 17-17.
North Park eventually extended the run to 8-2 to lead 21-19, and was ahead at 22-20 when a critical point appeared to have turned momentum back. A point initially ruled for the Vikings that would've given the guests a 23-20 lead was overturned at a challenge, and Lakeland took advantage to score four straight points and get to set point at 24-22. The Muskies came up empty in four set points, though, and North Park finally closed it out when Buhain Malana's serve clipped the net and fell over on the Vikings' second set point.
Lakeland came back to win the second set, outscoring North Park 15-6 to close the set including a six-point run late that included two more aces by Putchinski. The Vikings turned momentum in the match in the third set, though, with an early six-point run for a 9-3 lead that the Muskies could only put a dent in the rest of the set.
Sage Xiong (
So.-Erie, Colo.) led Lakeland with 12 kills and added nine digs and
Jakob Donohue (
Sr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) added 11 kills.
Chase Anderson (
Sr.-Hartford, Wis.) finished with 36 assists, Putchinski totaled five aces for the night and
Luke Schultz (
Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.) led the back row defense with 15 digs.
Buhain Malana paced North Park with 11 kills and Gino Hamoy finished with nine kills, 26 assists and 12 digs. Jan Dragan also added nine kills plus six blocks (two solo, four assisted). The Vikings finished with a 13-7 advantage in blocks in the match and finished outhitting Lakeland .160 (45 kills, 24 errors) to .097 (42 kills, 28 errors).
Lakeland is home again Thursday night for its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener against Dominican University at 6 p.m. at the Woltzen Gymnasium.
