MEQUON, Wis. – Concordia University Wisconsin led almost from start to finish and the Lakeland University men's volleyball team saw its season end with a three-set loss Saturday afternoon at the R. John Buuck Fieldhouse.

The Falcons swept to a 25-18, 25-14, 25-22 win to clinch the eighth and final spot in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament. Concordia also retained possession of the Highway 57 Cup trophy for another year, while the Muskies came up short of the NACC Tournament and finished 9-16 overall and 4-8 in conference.

Concordia (6-16 overall, 5-7 NACC) came out hot from the start and trailed only one time in the match, when Lakeland held a brief 2-1 lead early in the second period. The Falcons hit .263 as a team (38 kills, 13 errors), served eight aces and added seven blocks, holding significant advantages over the Muskies in all three categories.

Lakeland struggled to get much going all throughout the match, hitting .087 for the match with 28 kills and 19 errors. The Muskies especially struggled at the start of sets, as CUW built leads of 10-3 in the first set, 15-4 in the second and 9-3 in the third.

Lakeland was able to get within striking distance in the first and third sets, including a brief 5-2 run to get to 18-14 in the first after a kill by Colin Putchinski (Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.). The Muskies also chipped away late in the final set and close to 24-22 after the second service ace of the match from Roger Sauvage (Sr.-Seattle, Wash.). Concordia closed it out on the next point, though, with a Lakeland attack going wide for an error to end the match.

Sage Xiong (So.-Erie, Colo.) finished with eight kills and Putchinski added seven kills to lead the Muskies. Chase Anderson (Sr.-Hartford, Wis.) finished with 22 assists and Luke Schultz (Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.) paced the team with 10 digs.

Owen Kolozsy led Concordia with 13 kills and Reid Scott added nine kills. Parker Butterfass also added eight kills plus four block assists.

The match was the final one for six seniors: Anderson, Sauvage, Jordan Davis-Troller (Cottage Grove, Wis.), Jakob Donohue (Milwaukee, Wis.), Drake Schleihs (Appleton, Wis.) and Eli Weinrich (Mequon, Wis.). The group was part of the Muskies' most successful team in seven years, as Lakeland's nine wins are the program's most since 2019.