Lakeland College

Men's Volleyball Wins Six Straight Before Falling to No. 2 Illini in Semifinals

Athletics - posted on 2/24/2008

The Lakeland College men's volleyball team moved to 23-4 on the season following this past weekend's Hoosier-Illini Tournament in Bloomington, Ind.

After a promising start to the tournament with six match wins in a row, the Muskies, ranked No. 4 in the nation, fell to No. 2 Illinois in the semifinal round, 2-0 (10-25, 25-27).

The squad was undefeated in Saturday's pool play matches, 2-0, downing Indiana University (25-18, 25-21), Eastern Illinois University (25-7, 30-28), Navy (25-16, 25-17) and Ohio Northern (25-18, 25-15). The team continued its success into Sunday's playoffs, winning the first round over Dayton, 2-0 (25-15, 25-20) and the quarterfinals over Virginia Tech, 2-0 (25-23, 25-19) before falling to the Illini.

Junior setter Matt Clemens, senior middle hitter Avdo Omerbegovic and senior outside hitter Matt Martin all seem to be making solid recoveries from previous injuries, as they turned out team-best numbers in multiple matches.

Omerbegovic led the offensive charge against Eastern Illinois and Navy with eight and nine kills and also tallied three blocks in each match. Clemens recorded 20+ assists in three separate matches with a personal tournament-high 26 assists against Ohio Northern. Martin returned to his usual role of making big plays on both offense and defense as he recorded an impressive effort of 14 digs and nine kills against Dayton.

Senior middle hitter Jared Rohland and junior outside hitter Joe Julkowski were also instrumental on offense as both landed eight kills against Navy and Ohio Northern, respectively.

The Muskies will continue their season with a Wisconsin Volleyball Conference match on the road against Carthage College on Tuesday, March 4. Match time is set for 7:30 p.m.

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