MADISON, Wis. – Edgewood College is back in familiar territory. For the fifth-straight season, the Eagles are headed to the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament Championship match. The top-seeded Eagles had little trouble against fourth-seeded Lakeland College, winning in straight sets 25-14, 25-22, 25-19. The Eagles advance and will host #2 Dominican on Saturday at 7 pm from the Edgedome.
Much like the first meeting between the two teams in the regular season, the Eagles ran out to a huge win in set one and then had to give it their all in the final two. The Eagles combined an extremely efficient offensive attack with a stout defense in the first set, as they hit .325 and totaled four blocks.
Savannah Koester and Jordan Winkler each had four kills in a set that featured back-and-forth play early on before the Eagles pulled away. A Lakeland kill made it 12-10 in favor of Edgewood College but the Eagles would score six-straight to take a commanding 18-10 lead. The Muskies would score another but the Eagles ran away with five more in a row to go up 23-11. Moments later, Jenna Dammen and Emily Chaussee ended the set with a pair of kills.
A Lakeland ball handling error and another Dammen kill gave the Eagles a 22-18 lead in set two before Lakeland stormed back to pull within one at 22-21. Jordan Winkler then recorded a kill and a service ace to force match point. Courtney Naser put one home for Lakeland to pull within two but a Muskies attacking error gave the Eagles the 2-0 advantage.
Neither team led by more than two points in set three until a Lakeland ball handling error gave the Eagles a 15-12 lead. Shortly after the Eagles went on a 6-0 run—highlighted by three kills from Elizabeth Evan—to go up 21-14. From there the Eagles closed it out largely due to three Emily Chaussee kills before Lakeland had a bad set to give the Eagles the 25-19 win.
Winkler posted a game-high 10 kills and no errors in 29 attacks for a .345 attack percentage. Evans was right behind with nine and a .208 hitting percentage. Alex Zapuchlak racked up 22 assists on the night while Rachel Tesch continued her stellar play in the backcourt with a game-high 21 digs. Dammen posted seven blocks, marking the fifth time she had at least that amount in a single match this season.
With the win the Eagles will meet Dominican for the fourth time out of the past five seasons in the championship match. The two teams will enter with identical records of 24-9, although Edgewood College won in a five-set thriller against the Stars on Oct. 3. The Eagles will also enter having won 14 of their last 15 matches.
Last season the Eagles lost 17-25, 25-20, 25-11, 25-21 in the championship match against the Stars. Winkler had 14 kills while Tesch had 18 digs. Dominican will enter the championship match ranked 8th in the Midwest Regional rankings.
