RIVER FOREST, Ill. – Lakeland University twice came back from a set down to even the match but Concordia University Chicago won the deciding fifth set to defeat the Muskies in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference men's volleyball match.
The Cougars won by a 25-18, 23-25, 25-13, 20-25, 15-9 score in a battle for position in the NACC standings. Concordia edged ahead of Lakeland at 3-5 in conference (11-9 overall) while the Muskies fell to 8-14 overall and 3-6 in the NACC with three regular season matches remaining.
Lakeland lost its fourth straight match, continuing a recent trend of being close but unable to get over the hump against conference foes. The Muskies lost three very close sets to nationally ranked Milwaukee School of Engineering, won a set against another ranked team in Aurora University plus Wisconsin Lutheran College, and then lost to Concordia Chicago in five, Lakeland's third five-set loss this season.
The Muskies came back from down 2-1 in the match to largely control the fourth set, but the Cougars never trailed in the fifth set. The teams were tied at 1-1 and 2-2 early in the set, but CUC scored four of the next five points to take a 6-3 lead.
Lakeland closed back within a point at 6-5 and again at 7-6, the latter after a Cougars attack error, but Concordia scored the next two points and never led by less than two again. CUC closed it out by scoring the final three points, including the final on a Muskies' attack error.
Colin Putchinski (
Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.) finished with 13 kills,
Jordan Davis-Troller (
Sr.-Cottage Grove, Wis.) and
Sage Xiong (
So.-Erie, Colo.) tallied 12 kills each and
Jakob Donohue (
Sr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) added nine kills. The Muskies hit .142 as a team with 52 kills but 29 errors, well below Concordia's .219 attack percentage (56 kills, 21 errors).
Chase Anderson (
Sr.-Hartford, Wis.) finished with 42 assists plus 14 digs and
Luke Schultz (Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.) paced the team with 18 digs. Xiong (13 digs) and
Eli Weinrich (
Sr.-Mequon, Wis.) also reached double figures in digs.
Tate Johnson led Concordia Chicago with 16 kills and Tyrise Armstrong added 13 kills. The Cougars also finished with advantages in service aces (7-1) and blocks (10-6).
Lakeland now has a break until next Saturday, when it hosts Benedictine University at 2 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium for Senior Day and the team's final home match of the season.
