Lakeland Mirror

Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Yu-Tze Chen Lakeland players huddle together against Rockford earlier this season. The Muskies came back from two sets down against Dominican, a team they had lost to previously this season, to win the Northern Athletics Conference tournament championship. They play Hope College Nov. 12 in their NCAA tournament opener at 7 p.m. in Holland, Mich.

Lakeland volleyball head coach Chad Schreiber earned his three-hundredth career victory when the Muskies defeated Wisconsin Lutheran, 25-21, 25-18, 25-23, on Nov. 3 in the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

Entering the NAC tournament the Muskies were the second-seed, and they advanced to the semifinals with this win.

In the first set the Muskies soared to a 13-7 lead and finished the Warriors, the seventh seed, off in the end.

In the second set the Muskies were down 9-5, but came back with a six-point run to take control of the match negating the risk of letting the Warriors come back in.

In the final set, the Muskies were again trailing, down 21-17 late in the final set, before they won eight out of the last ten points in the game.

"Wisconsin Lutheran is a very good team," Schreiber said. "They have all the athletes to win, we just have a little more experience."

Senior middle hitter Kim Linger had an impressive game with 13 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Brittanie Paulus also had a good game as she posted 14 kills and eleven digs.

Besides these two outstanding hitters, junior Sam Shepeck and senior Kaylyn Kasper played their best. Shepeck had eleven kills while Kasper had a team-high 12 digs.

"We rely on Kim and Brittanie every match, but Sam and Kaylyn stepped up and made the difference," Schreiber said.

Schreiber is in his fifteenth season as volleyball head coach. During his tenure, the women's program has won eight conference championships and have made it to five NCAA Tournaments.

"This milestone means I have good people around me, from assistant coaches to players to family," Schreiber said. "Most importantly, this win gives me the opportunity to coach our seniors one more time. I'm not ready to be done with them."

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