EAU CLAIRE, WIS. – Playing in their final two non-conference matches, the Linfield Wildcats dropped both of their matches on Saturday. The first one in five sets to Lakeland and the other one to St. Thomas in three.
 
The Wildcats finish tournament play with a record 4-8, having lost three of their last four.

Lori Cimmiyotti and Maya Nakasone were selected to the All-Tournament Team by the Sandy Schumacher Memorial Tournament.
 
Lakeland 3, Wildcats 2
 
The Muskies started out slow in the match as eight of the first ten points for the Wildcats were on errors by the Muskies.
 
Lakeland overcame the early miscues to bring the set within 20-19, but a kill by Raelynn Hammock gave Linfield the 21-19 advantage. An ace by Aylea Dixon gave Linfield the first set 25-23.
 
The errors at the start of the first set turned into kills for the Muskies who led 9-3 to start the set.
 
Lakeland won the second set 25-11. The 11 points scored by Linfield is the lowest in a set this season.
 
The dominance continued in the third set for Lakeland with a 7-3 lead.
 
A kill by Regan Dean at 4-8 sparked the Wildcats, who won the next five points and managed to have a set point at 24-23 on a kill by Hammock.
 
A service error by the Wildcats gave the Muskies a second life and they won the next three points to win the third set, 26-24.
 
After the Muskies held the 15-14 edge, the Wildcats won the next seven points highlighted by an ace from Dean to lead 21-15.
 
Linfield closed out the fourth set, 25-19 on a kill by Hannah Waterman.
 
The deciding set was back and forth until 5-0 run at 9-10 for the Muskies helped them win the deciding set, 15-11.
 
The Wildcats fall to 1-1 on matches that go the distance this season.
 
Sofia Zielinski picked up her first career double double with 15 digs and 15 assists. It was the first double double for the Wildcats since October 2018.
 
Freshman Maya Nakasone had career-high 23 digs in the match.
 
Kara Thomas and Hammock led the way with eight kills and Cimmiyotti had four blocks.
 
The Wildcats landed just 8 percent of their attacks, while the Muskies landed 13 included a 19.4-9.4 percent advantage in the fifth set.
 
Linfield had 97 total digs in the match which is the second highest this season after 104 against Centenary.
 
St. Thomas 3, Linfield 0
 
In the first set, the Wildcats were up 5-2 on a kill by Kara Thomas, but the Tommies took command of the set with a 12-3 run.
 
An attacking error by the Wildcats gave the Tommies the first set, 25-14.
 
Trailing 9-2 in the second, the Wildcats made a 7-1 run to get close, but that was the closest the Wildcats got to the Tommies in the second.
 
Tommies continued their hot pace over the Wildcats, closing out the match 25-16 in the third.
 
Nakasone had her second double digit digs match of the day with 14 in the afternoon.
 
Zielinski had 19 assists to lead the way and Dean had seven kills in the match.
 
UP NEXT
The Wildcats begin Northwest Conference play on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Willamette in the Beaver State capital.