FOND DU LAC, Wis. – The Concordia Wisconsin men's volleyball team opened Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Play on Wednesday night at Marian. The Falcons fell short with 27-25, 25-21, 25-16 loss to move to 3-5 and 0-1 in the NACC.

The Falcons and Sabres fought tooth and nail in the first set. A block from sophomore Logan Kebisek (Brookfield, Wis.) and sophomore Lucas Beres (Germantown, Wis.) gave the Falcons a 19-16 lead, but the Sabres stormed back with a 5-0 run. The Falcons had two set points, but could not put Marian away. A 3-0 run for the Black and Blue took the set at 27-25.

The Sabres jumped on Concordia early in the second set at 5-1 and never looked back. CUW trimmed the deficit to three points on four occasions, including at 23-20, after trailing, 10-21, but never caught the Sabres in the set.

The Black and Blue once again held an early lead in the third set at 6-3. The Falcons showed no quit and won the next four points to take the lead at 7-6. A 4-0 run for Marian gave the Sabres the lead for the rest of the evening. CUW cut the Marian lead to 12-10, 13-11, 14-12, 16-14 and 17-16, but the Sabres closed the book with an 8-0 run.

Junior Spencer Herman (Kimberly, Wis.) led the match with 12 kills on Wednesday night.

Freshman Ben Kayser (Milwaukee, Wis) had 10 of the 34 Concordia digs against Marian.

Logan Kebisek fed the Concordia offense with 28 assists.

The Falcons look to bounce back on Saturday against Concordia Chicago.