Lakeland College

Women's Volleyball Closes Out NAC Schedule Undefeated, Wins Two at Triangular

Athletics - posted on 10/20/2007

The Lakeland College women's volleyball team closed out its Northern Athletics Conference regular season schedule with a perfect 12-0 record following a 3-0 match win over Rockford College on Saturday, Oct. 20, at Lakeland. The match was the first of two for the Muskies (19-11 overall) today, as they also faced non-conference Lawrence University in triangular action for another 3-0 win.

Although Lakeland secured the regular season NAC title on Friday night with a victory over Milwaukee School of Engineering, the Muskies can still take pride in having gone through the conference schedule undefeated and refocus their energies on preparing for the NAC Tournament.

However, Rockford was not willing to go down without a fight after Lakeland took game one, 30-18. The Regents came storming back in the second and third games and threatened to lengthen the match with close 30-28 results in both games in the Muskies' favor.

Senior middle hitter Shelly Bruni led the home squad's diverse offensive attack with nine kills, followed by senior outside hitter Ashley Domask with eight kills. Senior right side hitter Alayna Flynn and sophomore middle hitter Jessica Keller combined for seven kills apiece, with Keller tallying a team-high .467 hitting.

Defensive specialists Rachel Young and Tonia Strebelinski took over the back row with 11 and nine digs, respectively, while junior setter Jessica Sparling led the team in assists with 18 followed closely by freshman setter Kristine Raeder with 17.

In the squad's second match of the day with Lawrence, the Muskies dominated the Vikings in game one, 30-13, but had to fight into extra points in the second game, coming out on top at 33-31 before sealing the match in the third game, 30-26.

Domask led the offensive charge with 10 kills, followed by Keller with eight on another .467 hitting performance. Strebelinski continued her solid defensive efforts with a team-high 20 digs, while Raeder went for 29 assists.

Lakeland will return to non-conference tournament play next weekend at UW-Whitewater, and will look to snag a win over some of the tough teams they will face in order to give itself a chance at a NCAA at-large bid.

The Muskies will kick off the tournament on Friday, Oct. 26, with UW-Platteville at 1 p.m., followed by UW-Oshkosh, ranked No. 4 in the nation at 5 p.m.

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