ANGOLA, Ind. – Chase Anderson (Sr.-Hartford, Wis.) reached a career milestone and the Lakeland University men's volleyball team made its season debut splitting two matches at a triangular hosted by Trine (Ind.) University Friday afternoon.

The Muskies rolled to a 25-14, 25-17, 25-19 sweep of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) University in their first match. Lakeland then rallied from a two-set deficit in its second match against the host school Trine before losing a hard-fought 25-19, 25-18, 22-25, 23-25, 16-14 decision to the Thunder.

Anderson recorded 32 assists in the opener against Mount St. Joseph, and with it became the second player in the Muskies' men's volleyball varsity history to record 2,000 assists in a career. Anderson entered the season with 1,981 assists and after also notching 40 assists against Trine he has 2,053 career assists, behind only Addison Mertler with 2,554 assists from 2016-19.

Lakeland as a team dominated its opening match with a robust .405 hitting percentage with 40 kills and just eight errors in 79 attacks. The Muskies posted their best hitting mark since hitting .500 against Wisconsin Lutheran College March 9, 2022 and tied for the third-highest hitting mark in a match in the program's varsity history dating back to 2014.

Freshman Colin Putchinski (Waukesha, Wis.) debuted with 13 kills and Eli Weinrich (Sr.-Mequon, Wis.) added 11 kills. Sage Xiong (So.-Erie, Colo.) also posted 13 digs and Luke Schultz (Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.) added 11 digs.

Lakeland lost the first two sets against Trine but then mounted a pair of major rallies, first coming back to even the match and send it to a deciding set, and then again in the fifth set battling back from 8-1 down to score eight straight points. Jakob Donohue (Sr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) posted two kills in the fifth and the Muskies took advantage of a string of Trine hitting errors to lead on three occasions, the last time at 11-10. Lakeland eventually fought off one match point at 14-13 but the Thunder closed out with a pair of kills to finish the marathon match.

Putchinski added another 13 kills against Trine, Jordan Davis-Troller (Sr.-Cottage Grove, Wis.) totaled 11 kills and Donohue added 10 kills. Weinrich posted 18 digs and Xiong added 10 digs, and Davis-Troller also posted six blocks (three solo, three assisted).

Lakeland now gets ready for its home opener this coming Tuesday against nationally ranked Carthage College at 6 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.