ASHLAND, Wis. - The Martin Luther College volleyball team was unable to hold on to a lead late in the fifth set of a 3-2 loss at Northland (14-25, 25-13, 25-21, 22-25, 15-13) on Friday night. 

The Knights took the first set with ease (25-14), but Northland came back to take control of the match by taking the second and third sets.

After MLC forced a fifth and deciding game, the Knights took an early 5-0 lead, and then built a 13-9 lead later in the set, but Northland responded by running off the final six points of the set to win the match.

Lauren Paulsen and Kelsey Birschbach each finished with 16 kills to lead the team, but no one else on the Knights recorded more than five kills on the night.

Birschbach also added 23 digs, while Kate Aswege set a new career high with 36 digs. 

MLC fell to 8-11 on the season and 7-2 in UMAC play in defeat, while the win pushed Northland's record to 5-13 overall and 2-7 in league play. 

The Knights will return to action tomorrow (Saturday, October 16) when they travel to UW-Superior for a match scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.