PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Sage Xiong (So.-Erie, Colo.) heated up for 10 kills but the Lakeland University men's volleyball team was unable to deliver a Senior Day win, falling to Benedictine University in three sets Saturday afternoon at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies battled back after a slow start but fell to the Eagles 25-6, 25-22, 25-23 in their final home match of the season. Lakeland fell to one of the top teams in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and dropped to 8-15 overall and 3-7 in the conference with two regular season matches remaining, and the Muskies will need to win both to stay in play for a possible spot in the eight-team NACC Tournament.

Lakeland honored seniors Chase Anderson (Hartford, Wis.), Jordan Davis-Troller (Cottage Grove, Wis.), Jakob Donohue (Milwaukee, Wis.), Roger Sauvage (Seattle, Wash.) and Eli Weinrich (Mequon, Wis.) before their final home match, but the Muskies came out flat in an ugly first set, which included Benedictine (14-9 overall, 8-2 NACC) scoring 15 straight points to take a 22-3 lead.

Lakeland responded after that opening set and was nearly neck-and-neck with the Eagles the final two sets, which included 16 ties plus four lead changes.

The Muskies came back from down 19-14 in the second set to get within a point late at 23-22 after a kill from Donohue before Benedictine scored the final two points of the set. Lakeland then led for a good portion of the third set and was ahead 16-13 after an ace by Donohue, but a tip attempt to push the lead to four on the following point went just wide and the Eagles began a 6-2 run that turned momentum.

Benedictine reached match point at 24-22 after a kill by Chris Radomski, but Xiong answered with his sixth kill of the set and 10th of the match to get the Muskies back within a point again. A service attempt after an Eagles timeout went long, though, and clinched the sweep for the guests.

Xiong accounted for nearly half of Lakeland's 26 kills and hit .389 over 18 attack attempts, while Davis-Troller and Weinrich added five kills each. Anderson finished with 24 assists, Luke Schultz (Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.) led the team with seven digs and Connor Lewis (So.-Oak Lawn, Ill.) added three kills plus four digs in extended action off the bench.

Benedictine hit .329 in the match with 40 kills to 12 errors, well ahead of Lakeland's .086 hitting percentage with 26 kills and 18 errors. Tucker Lambert finished with 14 kills to lead the Eagles.

The Muskies are on the road for their next match Wednesday when the take on Marian University at 6 p.m. in Fond du Lac.