The Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference schedule is now in full swing for women's volleyball. At 4-1 in NACC play, the Eagles will play two more conference matches on Friday and Saturday. Both will take place at the Dan and Ada Rice Center, as BenU hosts Marian University on Friday night and Lakeland College on Saturday morning.
BenU (6-16, 4-1) comes off of a 2-1 week, defeating Alverno College on Tuesday and Milwaukee School of Engineering on Friday before falling to conference unbeaten Concordia University Wisconsin on Saturday. Freshman
Emily Chitwood had 30 kills on the week, while senior
Andraia Leja tallied 55 digs. The Eagles sit at third place in the NACC, trailing only CUW and Dominican University.
Friday: vs. Marian (6-13, 2-1), 7:00 p.m.
Marian currently sits not far behind the Eagles, as the fifth-place Sabres are even in the loss column and a game behind the Eagles in the NACC standings. After a losing streak of eight matches (seven coming in non-conference action), Marian has won two straight by defeating NACC foes Wisconsin Lutheran College and Alverno. Before traveling to BenU on Friday, Marian will play at Dominican on Wednesday.
The Eagles hold a ten-match winning streak against Marian, having not lost to the Sabres since a 3-0 defeat at a neutral site (a tournament hosted by UW-Stevens Point) in 1999. Last season, the Eagles defeated Marian 3-1, which was the first time since 2008 the Sabres took a set from BenU.
Saturday: vs. Lakeland (9-13, 2-2), 11:00 a.m.
Saturday morning will be a quick turnaround for the Eagles, as the team hosts Lakeland after playing Marian the night before. It will be the same situation for the Lakeland, as the Muskies play at Aurora University on Friday night. Thus far, Lakeland sits in a tie for sixth-place in the NACC standings, as the Muskies, MSOE, and Edgewood College all currently hold 2-2 conference records.
The Benedictine-Lakeland matchup has been an interesting series since the NACC was formed in 2006, as the teams have both controlled the series over four-year spans. From 2006-2009, Lakeland won all six matchups against the Eagles, defeating BenU twice in the NACC Tournament (2007 and 2008) en route to tournament championships. Over the last four seasons, however, the Eagles have won all five matchups over the Muskies in straight sets, including in the 2011 NACC Tournament.
