MADISON, Wis. – The Edgewood College volleyball team kept their quest for a sixth straight NACC Tournament finals appearance alive with a 3-1 first round victory over fifth-seed Lakeland University on Tuesday night at the Edgedome. The fourth-seed Eagles cruised through the first two sets, and then pulled out a thrilling fourth set win for a 25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 30-28 victory. Edgewood College now advances to a NACC Tournament semifinal on Thursday against top-seed Concordia University Wisconsin.
Edgewood College (19-13) controlled most of the action in the first two sets, winning each 25-20. Emily Chaussee and Elizabeth Evans each had seven kills through the first two sets. In the third set, Lakeland University (15-17) reached set point by taking a 24-19 lead. However, the Eagles scored the next two points on kills by Chaussee and Evans, and then forced a Muskie timeout at 24-22 after an ace by Chaussee. Following a Lakeland ball-handling error, Savannah Koester scored a kill to even the match at 24-24 and guarantee a result beyond 25 points. However, Lakeland scored the next point and finally claimed their set on their fifth set point.
The third set would simply be a warm-up for an electric fourth set. This time, it was Edgewood College who would reach set and match point first, gaining a 24-20 lead after a Muskie service error. Lakeland recovered to score five straight points for a 25-24 lead, before a kill by Koester tied the match again. The Eagles fought off two more set points at 27-26 and 28-27. Finally, Evans scored a kill to tie the match at 28-28, Elizabeth Keller subbed in and delivered a service ace, and Mackenzie Hannan and Jenna Dammen teamed up for a match-winning block.
Evans and Chaussee both posted double-doubles with Evans collecting a team-high 12 kills and 10 digs, while Chaussee had 10 kills and a team-high 13 digs. Renee Meister led a strong effort by the Eagles front row with seven blocks to go with seven kills. Edgewood College's blocking was especially big in the fourth set as the Eagles had six of their 12 blocks in that set. Haley Schwenn had 18 assists to lead the Eagles, while Alex Zapuchlak added 15 assists.
The Eagles will face a tough challenge at 2016 NACC regular season champion Concordia University Wisconsin. Edgewood College lost to the Falcons 3-0 on October 18, the only NACC opponent to sweep the Eagles this season. The winner of Thursday's match will meet the winner of the other semifinal #3-seed Dominican University at #2-seed Aurora University. The NACC Tournament championship match will be at Saturday at the site of the highest seeded participating team.
