Volleyball's season ends in dramatic fashion in NACC Tournament

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Volleyball fans were at the edge of their seats for quite some time on Tuesday evening watching a Northern Athletics Collegiate College Tournament quarterfinal contest at Woltzen Gymnasium. Concordia University Wisconsin charged back from two sets down to force a deciding fifth set against Lakeland College, but couldn't get the victory falling 3-2 (21-25, 13-25, 25-21, 25-16, 12-25).

The third time wasn't a charm for the Falcons against the Muskies this season, as they ended with a 14-19 overall record – which was a six-win improvement from last year.

During the final and decisive fifth frame, CUW quickly fell behind 5-1 before slowly clawing its way back to a two-point deficit at 8-6. The Falcons had their chance to steal the victory after a Hannah Griffiths kill made the score 14-12 in favor of LC.

There were 20 scoring ties and 11 lead changes in the match that featured the fourth-seeded Muskies and fifth-seeded Falcons.

Senior Ashley Faber (Kewaskum, Wis.) ended her career with a team-high 16 kills, while Griffiths (junior, Antigo, Wis.) recorded her 15th double-double of the season, 13 kills and 16 digs. Freshman Karina Klotz (Hubertus, Wis.) had a career day with 44 assists, to go along with 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the season.

Defensively, sophomore Kelsey Paramore (Tomahawk, Wis.) led the Falcons with 20 digs and sophomore Kelsa Rubeck (Eau Claire, Wis.) added 14 digs of her own.

CUW's rhythm might have been altered due to junior Carley Valentine (De Pere, Wis.) sitting out the match because of mono.

Katie Freitag paced all players with 18 kills, while three other Muskies had double-figure kill totals. Brittany Reindle had a match-high 48 assists and Caleigh Galvan dug a match-best 21 attack attempts.

CUW's senior trio of Lauren Dumke (Wauwatosa, Wis.), Faber and Laruen Gonring (Kewaskum, Wis.) ended their career with 51 victories in a Falcons uniform.