MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's volleyball team's push to send the match to a deciding final set was short circuited as Wisconsin Lutheran College defeated the Muskies in four sets Tuesday night in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match.

The Muskies came back from two sets down to win the third set and took the fourth set to the wire before falling 25-21, 25-19, 21-25, 26-24. Lakeland missed out on an opportunity to move close to WLC in the conference standings and fell to 8-12 overall and 3-5 in the NACC.

The Muskies were unable to slow down the Warriors' attack, as the hosts hit .385 for the match with 56 kills and 16 errors. That included a .577 mark (16 kills, one error) in an ultra-close fourth set where the teams were close from the start of the set to the finish.

Lakeland got back into the match by winning the third set with its best hitting set of the match (.384 with 18 kills and six errors), and the teams then were tied on 20 different occasions in the fourth set. Neither team led by more than two at any point of the set, but the Muskies held the slim advantage in the exchange of side outs for most of the set, and led as late as 22-21 after a kill by Sage Xiong (So.-Erie, Colo.).

Wisconsin Lutheran (11-6 overall, 5-2 NACC) answered with the next two points before a kill from Jakob Donohue (Sr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) tied the score at 23-23. WLC reached match point after a Lakeland attack error, but another kill from Xiong tied the score again at 24-24. A Muskies service error gave the Warriors their second match point, though, and a kill from Noah Kern closed the match out.

Colin Putchinski (Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.) led the Muskies with 14 kills, Xiong posted 12 kills and Eli Weinrich (Sr.-Mequon, Wis.) added 10 kills. Chase Anderson (Sr.-Hartford, Wis.) finished with 40 assists and Donohue added eight kills plus four blocks (two solo, two assisted).

Brady Pichler led Wisconsin Lutheran with 21 kills and a .514 attack percentage. Adonis Hilton also added 13 kills and Kern finished with 11 kills and a .625 hitting percentage.

Lakeland is on the road again Friday when it takes on Concordia University Chicago at 6 p.m. in River Forest, Ill.