PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Lakeland University men's volleyball team continued its improved play even while coming up short in defeat, as Milwaukee School of Engineering won three close sets in the teams' Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match Wednesday night.

The Muskies traded blows with the nationally ranked Raiders throughout three sets before falling 25-21, 25-23, 25-23 at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium. Lakeland saw its three-match winning streak snapped and fell to 8-11 overall and 3-3 in conference.

MSOE remained undefeated in the NACC at 4-0 (11-5 overall) but was challenged throughout the match. The Raiders entered ranked 17th in the latest AVCA/NCAA Division III Top 20 Coaches Poll, but the Muskies were up to the task in many ways as the teams combined for 25 ties and eight lead changes.

All three sets were close, including the first set with the teams separated by just one point as late as 19-18 before MSOE scored three straight points to gain the upper hand. Lakeland fought off set points in both the second and third sets to get one point away from pushing the set past 25 points, and the Muskies led by six near the midway point of the third set and still by three at 16-13 before the Raiders went on a 6-1 run.

Lakeland still rallied to tie the third set at 20-20 after an MSOE attack error, but the Raiders answered with the next two points and never trailed again. The Muskies still were within one point on three occasions as the set wound down, including after kills by Jordan Davis-Troller (Sr.-Cottage Grove, Wis.) and Jakob Donohue (Sr.-Milwaukee, Wis.), but the Engineers closed it out on their second match point.

Davis-Troller and Donohue both finished with eight kills each as Lakeland used its middle blockers to hit effectively, with the two combining to hit .452 between them. Colin Putchinski (Waukesha, Wis.) added six kills and two service aces and Joe Bieganski (So.-Hartford, Wis.) finished with five kills plus eight digs and two blocks.

Eli Weinrich (Sr.-Mequon, Wis.) also finished with five kills and 10 digs and Chase Anderson (Sr.-Hartford, Wis.) posted 31 assists and nine digs. Luke Schultz (Fr.-Milwaukee, Wis.) added a team-best 11 digs from his libero spot.

Callan Harris finished with 16 kills and a .516 hitting percentage for MSOE and also added 16 digs. Seth Thomas also finished with 12 kills, and the two provided the bulk of the offense for the Raiders, who hit .233 as a team with 43 kills and 16 errors.

Lakeland gets a 10-day break before its next match when it hosts another nationally ranked team in Aurora University Saturday, March 14 at 1 p.m. at the Woltzen Gymnasium.