MADISON, Wis. - Losing never feels good, but some losses sting a little longer than others. The Edgewood College volleyball team will feel the pain of this one for a while, as the Eagles dropped a 3-2 decision to Benedictine University in the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament championship match. Edgewood College held a 2-1 lead, but it slipped away into a 25-23, 18-25, 17-25, 25-22, 15-12 loss. Barring an unlikely at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Eagles season will end at 26-9.

The first set, set the tone for a dramatic night as Edgewood College and Benedictine University (28-4) battled through 10 ties and four lead changes. Edgewood College had fallen behind 21-17, before rallying behind a pair of kills from Mallory Palmer to cut the margin to 24-23, but an Edgewood College service error ended the set.

Edgewood College re-asserted themselves and dominated the second and third sets. The Eagles opened up a 7-1 lead and never trailed in the second set. In the third set, junior Jessica Martin came alive with nine kills as Edgewood College rolled past Benedictine 25-17, putting Edgewood College ahead in the match 2-1.

The fourth set felt a lot more like the first set, with the margin never being greater than three points. The teams were tied at 20-20 after an assisted block by Sarah Schuchhardt and Palmer, one of a season-high 14 Edgewood College blocks on the night. Benedictine responded with back-to-back kills by Mailani Burton and Candice Cuppini to take a 22-20 lead and Edgewood College couldn't get back to even again.

Benedictine University gained an early 7-3 advantage in the fifth set behind three kills, a block and a service ace and forced an Edgewood College timeout. A solo block from senior Kaitlin Wayne brought Edgewood College back within two at 7-5, but a 4-1 Benedictine run opened up their largest lead of the set at 11-6. Edgewood College rallied with back-to-back kills from Palmer and an ace by Sam Himmelspach to cut Benedictine's lead to 12-10, but Benedictine eventually reached match point leading 14-11. A ball handling error from Benedictine saved one match point for Edgewood College, but a kill by Kaitlin Walsh ended Edgewood College's bid for a second straight NCAA Tournament berth.

The loss marked the end of the careers of three Edgewood College seniors who are highly responsible for the turnaround of the Eagles' volleyball program. Edgewood College's all-time kills leader Mallory Palmer hammered out 24 kills and had 24 digs for her second straight 20-20 match. She closes her career with 1,821 career kills, a number which is likely to stay in the record books for quite some time. Laura Sweeney earned the start in the back row and scored 13 digs to go with a service ace. Kaylin Wayne came off the bench to add seven kills and a career-high four blocks including two solo efforts. Together Palmer, Sweeney and Wayne amassed a four-year record of 82-54 with one NAC championship, one NAC Tournament title and one NCAA Tournament berth.

Martin had 15 kills and Katie Wedvick added 11 kills against only three errors. Himmelspach had a monster match on defense with 27 digs, while Lindsey Swansby added 19 digs to go with 53 assists. Edgewood College hit .256 in the second and third sets, but just .089 in the three sets they lost.

Edgewood College's 26 wins on the season ties for the second most victories in program history, trailing only the 1991 squad who went 27-11. Their winning percentage of .743 (26-9) ties the 1996 team for the highest winning percentage in school history.